(17) full size (18, 21) bar scales of 3/8 inch to 1 foot (19) bar scale of ¼ inch to 1 foot (20) bar scale of 5/8 inch to 1 foot

17 as above, (brown pen) Marked D, This Drawing to be taken Care of and Returned, BB / Manchester, labelled: Wall Line (twice), Spike Nail Driven in / Wall to Support Ca^ⁿtilever, (pencil) Cornice ----- (illegible), Style (4 times), Face of Pannel, The Dark Line shews the Run Work, Ceiling Line (twice), (brown pen) D (twice) 18 labelled (plan): A (twice), B (twice), E (twice), the line E E 1 inch ½ before the / Chimney brest, Center [sic] / line, Groin Ceiling / as before setled (sic), AA equal, BB equal, (Soane) J. S. / Bath 6^th Sept 1826 / For Mr T. Hunt; (elevation): A (twice), C (twice), D (twice), CC Equal, DD equal, 10.2 height of Column, 11.9, Bragget (?bracket) screen suspect AA / to finish from floor / Line 10 ft 2 in height / of Iron Columns, and some dimensions given 19 Soffitte, Cap, Cap moulding to pilaster AA / full size / BB to have no pilaster / but framing to run through / and stop against / arch ----- (illegible) of windows / and doors as dotted line / CC / the suffiats [sic] BB and AA / to be furnish with / a ------ (illegible) as Scetch, ------ (illegible) moulding to pilasters / AA as go in ------ (illegible) proper, Closet, Q if Columns are put at DD / can the drawers be used to the counter / as your scetch I should like / to know from you if you think / the Beams AA are sufficient to / carry the Building with out the Columns / pray let me know as soon as / you can or if there is sufficient / Room from Counters to Column / to draw out the drawers // Say which hand you want / the Mortice Lock for for / the front door, A (twice), B (4 times), C (8 times), D (twice); (verso): M^r Heath Cleark (sic) of Work / No 35 King Street / Manchester / In favour of Mr Estatt 20 labelled: a (twice), B (4 times), C (3 times), (pencil) Ceiling Line, A (twice), B (twice); (verso): Manchester 21 (Walter L. Spiers, 1848-1917, curator 1904-17) J / 21 Sheets, labelled: (Thomas Heath) N^o 34 / Front Door / to ajoining (sic) / House, N^o 35, line of paving of Street, N^o 36 / Front Door / to ajoining / House, (in another hand) floor line (twice), a drawing / for this door / way is / sent full / size, x frieze bro^t forward / to within one Inch / of the face of the / architrave / Bath, B, When these Steps are / taken away can line the same / work as B, Steps flush with door, Steps executed / as this, and some dimensions given

• (17) Sept 5 1826 (18) as above, 'J. S. / Bath 6th Sept 1826' (21) (Soane) 6 Sept^r / 1826

(17) Pen and sepia wash, pricked for transfer on two sheets of wove paper, affixed, with two fold marks (286 x 1380) (18) pen, red pen, sepia and pink washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with three fold marks (345 x 580) (19) pen, sepia and pink washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with five fold marks (570 x 685) (20) pen, pricked for transfer on wove paper with three fold marks (495 x 750) (21) pen, pencil, sepia and blue washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with three fold marks (570 x 690)

(17, 19, 20) Soane office (18) local surveyor (21) Thomas Heath, clerk of works

(20) Smith & Allnutt 1823 (21) T H & Co 1823

Drawings 17-20 show Soane’s design for the ceiling of the banking hall. An earlier perspective (drawing 13) has a plain ceiling supported by four iron columns. Alterations to the ceiling are penciled-in on drawing 12. Drawing 17 shows a ceiling section that includes volute brackets with acanthus leaf and rosette ornaments. Drawing 20 shows a ceiling spanning the entire banking hall divided into three rectangular compartments. The central compartment has four segments defined by roll mouldings each containing a winged staff entwined by a serpent (that is, caduceus). The other compartments take the form of a starfish ceiling ornamented with palmettes, fluting, acanthus leaves and waterleaf borders.
Before alteration, the banking hall area was occupied by three rooms (drawings 3 and 4). Soane converted these three rooms at the front of the house into one large hall, unified under a newly-decorated and vaulted ceiling. The ceiling is surprisingly elaborate; the central compartment is flat, but it is highly decorated with brackets, moulding and motifs. The caduceus is an attribute of Mercury, in Roman mythology the protector of merchants and traders, and thus a symbol frequently associated with commerce. Soane used the caduceus motif several times at the Bank of England on, for example, the pendentives of the Rotunda Vestibule, the Tivoli Corner, the Bullion Arch and the screen walls on Princes Street and Lothbury Street (all of which are catalogued under the Bank of England scheme, q.v.). The 'starfish vault' (so-called by Sir John Summerson despite having only four ‘arms’) was used by Soane on numerous occasions, notably at Pitzhanger Manor and in his own breakfast room at No. 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields. This, however, is perhaps the only example of two such starfish ceilings within the same space.
Drawing 21 shows the house - three-storeys with basement, five bays, the central bay projecting, and with a broken-based pediment over the entrance - before alteration.

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