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  • image Image 1 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30
  • image Image 2 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30
  • image Image 3 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30
  • image Image 1 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30
  • image Image 2 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30
  • image Image 3 for SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30

Reference number

SM (1) 9/4/31 (2) 9/4/30

Purpose

Alternative designs for the Court and surrounding offices, September and October 1797 (2)

Aspect

1 Ground floor plan showing the existing buildings and screen wall in black wash and the proposed buildings in light red wash, (feint pencil) elevation of the south side of Lothbury Court, plan of stair-well in triangular room, partial elevation of the east side of Lothbury Court, plan of two columns and a corner, plan of a stair, plan of the south side of the Court, elevation of a vaulted basement, elevation of the Consols Transfer office, and section of a three storey building 2 Ground floor plan with two fliers showing: an alternative orientation of the library, columnar variation in Lothbury Court, more piers in the Consols Transfer Office and different design for the corridor approaching Bullion Court

Scale

(1-2) bar scale

Inscribed

1 Plan labelled Gateway, Library, The Vestibule, The 3 per Cent Consols / Transfer Office, Wills & Powers, Chief / of / office, Unclaimd / Divid., Urinal Court, Lobby, Acct Genl / of / the H. Court / Chancery, Porters / Lodge, Eating Room / AG., Parlor, Entrance, Dress: / Room, Eating Room / D.G., Staircase, Portico, Parlor / D.G., D. Acct / Office, Acct Offices, Court, Water Closet, Strong Closet, Acct Genl / Room, Acct Office, Secretarys Office, Staionery, Court, Discount Office, The / Arched Entrance to / the Bullion Court, Interior Office, Addition to / the Bullion office, Bullion Court, 3 per Cent Cons. / Dividend, (pencil) Bank Hall, Addn to Treas., The Bank of England, Lothbury and (feint pencil) illegible inscription 2 Plan No 2, This Drawing shewn to the Com.ee of / Building, & approved of by / them, Oct. 10. 1797, / Present Mr Govr [Stephen Thornton] / Mr [Edward] Darell / Mr [Daniel] Giles / Mr [Samuel] Bosanquet, plan labelled: Lothbury, Accountant Generals' / Room., Deputy Accountants / office, Accountants office(twice), Lobby, Interior Office, Transfer Office / 82 feet by 50 feet., Wills & / Powers, Chief Clerk, Unclaimed / Dividend, on flier: NB This idea was the first but not / being satisfactory to me I did not / shew it to the Com: of Sep: 21 last / but it was added on the 10th of Oct. 97 / as a Gentleman had objected / to the straight entrance proposed, / the Com:e took into consideration this day (Oct: 10. 1797) & were / of opinion the other idea was preferable / & discussed this to be omitted & / adopted the other. / J.S. Oct.10.97 (inside fliers) The Library, Court, Account[ant] Genl / of the / High Court / of / Chancery, Closet, Vestibule, Bullion Court, Secretarys Office, and some dimensions given

Signed and dated

  • (1) Sepr 12. 1797 (2) Lincolns Inn Fields. Octr 3d 1797

Hand

Soane office and Soane

Notes

Drawings 1 and 2 are alternative designs for the north-east extension. Soane presented two plans and two models on 19 September, followed by more elevations of the Court the next day. On 21 September 1797, as Soane's private notebook records, Soane accompanied the Building Committee on a walk through the site. It is apparent that the directors felt that the intended building works were a major decision. Four extra committee members were temporarily appointed for the building proposal. One of these supplementary members, Mr Thomas Dea, voiced opinions about the plan on 21 September. His suggestion for altering the Bullion passage is responded to with the flier of drawing 2. Dea was apparently concerned that the public could see the unloading of bullion and coin from the street, and so Soane gave him a plan that would obscure such views. In the end, however, the directors preferred the original plan.

(For another drawing approved by the Committee on 10 October, see drawing 43 in the Lothbury Screen wall scheme)

See (SM) 1384 M for a model of Lothbury Court submitted to the Directors in October 1797.

Level

Drawing

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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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