(1-3) bar scale of 1/8 inch to 1 foot

1 as above, The Marquiss of Buckingham, Pallmall, line of Pavement / of Street, Pavement of area, A, line of Pavement of Street, Floor of Front A 3½ inches higher / than B and dimensions given; (verso, sheet trimmed) Marq^s Buckingham / Elevation of Front to old House / Pall Mall, (pencil) Marq^s Buckingham / Albion Place 2 (pencil) The Marquis of Buckingham, Pallmall 1790, plan labelled (upper case): Cistern, Hall, Steward's Room, Best Eating Room, Anti-Room, 14'11" / To top of / of floor, School Room, Secretary's Room, Dressing Room, Court, Gallery, Lobby, Library, Eating Room, and dimensions given 3 (upper case) The Marquis of Buckingham / Plan of One Pair Floor, Front Drawing Room, The old Front / Drawing Room, Middle Drawing Room, Ladies Library, Bed Room, Dressing Room, Court, Passage, The Back Drawing Room and dimensions given

• (1) Albion Place March 15 1790 (2) datable to after 1792

(1) Pencil, pen and wash on laid paper with three fold marks (521 x 360) (2-3) pen and wash, pencil, within quadruple-ruled pink and black wash border on wove paper (495 x 702, 495 x 702)

(1) attributed to John Sanders (1768-1826, pupil 1784-October 1790) (2-3) Soane office

(1) fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche and ornate W below

In 1779, George Nugent Temple Grenville (1753-1813), later first Marquess of Buckingham, inherited Buckingham House from his uncle, Richard Grenville 2nd Earl Temple, in 1779. In 1781 he purchased the adjoining property to the east, where his younger brother, Thomas Grenville (1755-1846), lived for two years. In 1783, the house's lease was renewed by the Crown and the Marquess employed the architect Robert Furze Brettingham (c.1750-1820) to consolidate the two properties into one house. Drawings 2 and 3 show the properties after a set of very light alterations have already been made (probably by Brettingham), with limited communication between the east and west buildings. Most notable is the single front entrance; the east house would have originally had its own front entrance.

Drawings 2 and 3 are record drawings of the ground and first floors before Soane's alterations. They are bound in a volume with drawings 36 to 42, which show the house as built by Soane after 1795.

The east building is a simple three-bay structure with three rooms on both floors. On both floors, a large room for entertaining fronts the street and two private rooms face the back. A principal staircase and common stair occupy the window-less area at the centre of the plan. Interestingly, the ground floor is shown with a 'school room' and a 'secretary's room'.

The five-bay west building is the London town house inherited by Lord Buckingham. The building is arranged around a central court, with rooms for entertaining added at the back. The house had belonged to Thomas Pitt (1653-1726) from 1710 to 1726 (Survey of London).

Survey of London, vol.s XXIX and XXX, 1960, p. 360.

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