Designs for alterations to house No. 1 for the London Dock Company, June 1810 (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
  - London: New Bank Buildings, Princes Street, City of London, 1807-10 (115)

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Reference number

SM (77) 11/3/34 (78) 11/3/32 (79) 11/3/33

Purpose

Designs for alterations to house No. 1 for the London Dock Company, June 1810 (3)

Aspect

77 Basement Plan of London Dock House / N^o 1 Princes Street / shewing the Alterations suggested by Mr Alexander / to adapt it for the accommodation of the Company / 1810 78 Ground floor Plan of the House N^o 1 "New Bank Buildings" shewing the Alterations suggested by M^r Alexander / to adapt it for the accommodation of the London Dock Company 1810 79 First floor Plan of the House N^o 1 "New Bank Buildings" shewing the Alterations suggested by M^r Alexander / to adapt it for the accommodation of the London Dock Company 1810

Scale

(77) to a scale of 1/4 inch to 1 foot (78, 79) bar scales of 1/4 inch to 1 foot

Inscribed

77 as above, labelled: Coals, Small Beer, to be a Pantry, Knives & / Shoes, Glazed / Shelter, 8 feet 8 in from A to -- (illegible), B, open Iron / Steps down to Coals / 13 at 8 ^{^in} each riser, Wine Cellar, Mans / Pantry, Kitchen, Cooks Scullery / or laid into Kitchen / by removing / this Partition, Space for Closets, Double / Door, Private / Kitchen Door, (blue pen) Iron Enclosure, House / Door, Accountants / Doorway, House Closets / or Ale &^c, Glass Work close to Ceiling, 8 feet 1½ from Paving / to top of Landing, 6'1'' high / top of Bead / neat, Servants / Water / Closet, Messengers Room, Strong / Room, Accountants / Retiring Room, Door to be / a Window, Ground Floor / Yard and some dimensions given; (verso): New Bank Buildings / Princes Street 78 as above, labelled: Open Iron / Steps down to Coals, Steps, 27.0 feet / present desk 24.3 / Desk under Windons (sic), Counter, Chairs (twice), The Public / Transfer Office, Seal, Secretary may / keep this door shut (twice), Messenger / or / Boxes of Papers, Hals (sic - ?Hats) and / and (sic) for Boxes above, Lobby, Secretarys / Clerks Office, Coats, Secretarys Room, Closet, Principal floor and some dimensions given 79 as above, labelled: C, Court and General Meeting Room, Folding Doors, Court Room, Messenger / attending, Iron Wicket, Directors / Closet, Back Stairs, Waiting Room, Closet, One Pair Floor; (under flier): The Committee determine / on this Method, Baize Door, Arched / Light over, Light over / Door

Signed and dated

(77) June 8th 1810, (in George Underwood's hand) Copied June (78) (in George Underwood's hand) June 8^th 1810 / Copied June 26^th (79) June 8^th 1810, (in George Underwood's hand) Copied July 26^th 1810

Medium and dimensions

(77) Pen, red pen, blue pen, black, yellow and sepia washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with one fold mark (664 x 527) (78, 79) pen, pencil, sepia and yellow washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with one fold mark (667 x 533, 662 x 531) (79) with flier on laid paper (90 x 45)

Hand

(77-79) office of the London Dock Company

Watermark

(77-79) SH

Notes

The alterations to house No. 1 'suggested by Mr Alexander' include new partitions, counters and doors. The most substantial alteration proposed, though, is the repositioning of the staircase between the basement and the ground floor, shown in red and blue pen (drawing 77). These plans were made before the counting houses were constructed, and therefore the new extension is added in rough pencil to drawing 78.

Drawings 77-79 appear to have been made outside of the Soane office. However, each is labelled as 'copied' in the hand of George Underwood (1793-1829, assistant 1807-15). The Soane office Day Books have Underwood drawing plans of the London Dock Company's house on 25, 26 and 27 July 1810, and drawing 79 is labelled accordingly. It is possible, therefore, that the inscriptions on drawings 77 and 78 ('copied June') are incorrect.

'Mr Alexander' is likely to be Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846). He was, from 1800-21, surveyor for the London Dock Company and before that was involved with John Rennie in work for the same Company.

Level

Drawing

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

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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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