5 feet to 1 inch

In pen and brown ink by Hawksmoor on panel above first-floor opening of lower pavilion, ANNA. REG; and within ground-floor arch of lower pavilion, Lower / Terminateing / pavillion / in N^o 4.; and on plan below, Plan of y^e / Lower part; and below elevation of upper pavilion, The Lower _^ Upper Terminateing pavillion / by reason of y^e Rising Grounde / they are N^o. 8.; and with number dimensions on lower pavilion in C19 hand at top right (top left in volume), 47.

• Undated, but datable c.1711

Pen and brown ink over graphite under-drawing, with grey wash; on laid paper, laid down, in two joined pieces, top piece pasted over bottom sheet at the level of the cornices of the pilasters of the turrets; 475 x 340

Hawksmoor

On main sheet, Strasbourg Lily / LVG

The two pavilions are set alongside each other at their respective levels, which as Hawksmoor explains is by reason of y^e Rising Grounde. The difference in level of 15 feet is taken up by the tall angled pedestals of the lower pavilion. The common level shared by both pavilions is at the sills of the central openings of the towers. The complete long elevation, [7/2], shows this level to be at the first floor of the King Charles II Building, i.e. the piano nobile of the original palace range. This level is accentuated across the whole elevation in [7/2] and is one reason for the elevation of the loggia of the infirmary above a half-storey-height basement in [7/3].

These two detailed designs are revisions of the pavilions in [7/2]. The pavilions have lost their plinth-like podiums and are broader in relation to their heights. The ground-floor arch of the lower pavilion is higher in relation to the central opening; the arch is now set just below the band course at the bottom of this opening. The central openings of both pavilions now have square rather than round columns on each side. The pavilions appear to relate more closely to the plans of the infirmary in [7/4] and [7/6] than they do to the elevation of the infirmary in [7/3]. They anticipate the larger-scale and more baroque treatment in the second enlargement scheme with its oval court.

The device of angled corner piers contrasting with flat-faced surfaces at an adjacent level of a facade (above or below) reflects the massing of the corner attics at Blenheim Palace, c.1706. These turrets have canted corner buttresses, while the surfaces below are planar. Here the massing of angled and flat surfaces is reversed. The turrets are formed in a series of parallel flat surfaces, whereas the lower stages are a combination of flat and angled surfaces. The introduction of perspective rendering in the turrets to show the plane of the rear arch behind the front one seems intended to emphasis the parallel plane formation of the upper part of the pavilion. The gabled turret in these study designs reappears in the corner turrets of the chapel in the second enlargement scheme [8/3].

Wren Society, VI, pl. 35, right

Drawing

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