Preliminary working drawings for wall piers, one dated 1 March 1792 (3)

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Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
- Bank of England
  - Bank of England, City of London for the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, 1788-1834 (1352)
    - 1791-1801 Rebuilding of offices in the east wing and north-east extension (430)
      - Bank Stock Office, 1791-1793 (73)
        Preliminary wall elevations and working drawings for wall piers and side-aisle arches, c. February to March 1792 (7)

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Reference number

SM (37) volume 74/42 (38) volume 74/40 (39) volume 74/41

Purpose

Preliminary working drawings for wall piers, one dated 1 March 1792 (3)

Aspect

37 Plan of Angle Pier half the full Size and (verso) Plan of Pilaster next Wall opposite Angle Pilaster ½ full size 38 Plan of the Pedestal bottom of the Pilaster / half the full size, as executed and (verso) Plan of the Pedastal in the Plinth Course 39 Plan of the Pier above the floor / ½ the full size and Elevation of the Pilaster / ½ the full size and (verso) Piers in the Bank Stock Office and Top of the Pilaster ½ the full size, as executed

Scale

(37-39) ½ full size

Inscribed

37 as above, The Bank of England, Bank Stock Office, Wall Line (twice) and (verso, pencil) calculation 38 as above, The Bank of England, (Bank Stock Office), (pencil) 9 5/8 39 as above, The Bank, Bank Stock Office, calculation and (verso) The Bank of England

Signed and dated

(37) (verso) March 1^st 1792 (38-39) datable to March 1792

Medium and dimensions

(37) Pen, pencil and pale red ink on wove paper with six fold marks (533 x 613) (38) pen, pencil, pale red ink and sepia wash on wove paper with six fold marks (533 x 620) (39) pen, pencil, pale red ink and sepia wash on laid paper with four fold marks (662 x 507)

Hand

(37-39) attributed to William Lodder (assistant 1789-?) or Charles Ebdon (assistant 1791-1792)

Notes

On the rectos and the versos of the drawings are large-scale working drawings for the hall's piers. Drawings 37-9 are details for the piers: drawing 37 shows those on the perimeter while drawings 38-9 are for the four central piers.
The plans on the verso and recto of drawing 37 indicate fluting on one more side than was actually realised. In the corners no fluted pilasters were applied at all. Along the walls, only one fluted pilaster was applied, facing into the side-arm. The 1 March 1792 date on drawing 37 indicates that Soane was detailing the hall's piers before he had settled on its overall design (see the preliminary sections of drawing 8 and 12, dated 18 and 10 March 1792). In the margin on the recto is a light pencil sketch of a pedestal.
The plan on the recto of drawing 38 is as executed. However, on the verso the plan of the pedestal's plinth shows fluted pilasters on three sides, whereas as realised they appeared only on the two sides of the pier facing towards the crossing.
The plan on the recto of drawing 39 is a copy of the plan on the verso of drawing 38, except that the fluting on the left-hand facet has been filled in with wash, correcting the latter drawing's mistake of indicating fluting on three sides of the pier instead of two as executed. In the upper part of the recto and on the verso are large-scale elevations of the bottom and top, respectively, of the triple-fluted pilasters, clearly showing the austere rectilinearity of the profiles. Along the recto's left margin is a light pencil study for a column base.
The multiple fold marks on the drawings indicate how they were frequently used and folded for transport to and from Soane's Great Scotland Yard and Bank offices.

Level

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk

Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.

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