The variations in the two plans include the porch (in SM 46/3/9 larger and with two pairs of columns, the flier showing five steps on a segmental plan), the entrance vestibule and stair (in SM 46/3/8 with two pairs of alcoves and columns) and the drawing and dining rooms (in SM 46/3/9 with several recesses for sofas and side table). The overall plans are similar though in SM 46/3/9 the black wash to the rear half of the building has been omitted and the rooms are not labelled, probably because those parts are identical to the same area in SM 46/3/8.

The verso of SM 46/3/8 has (in Soane's hand) a rough half-elevation for a seven-bay, two storeys and raised-basement house with horizontal rustication to the ground floor, roundels between the ground and first floor windows, tablets below the ground floor windows and with an entrance composed of a square-headed door set in a two-storey arched surround with optional coupled columns on the right-hand side; this design is labelled No 3. A smaller sketch elevation 'labelled No 4' shows a door with a cornice supported by two brackets that is set against a projecting corniced panel that reaches the string course. A further detail is for a door flanked by coupled columns supporting an entablature. The inscription 'Temple of Concord' (against the dentil course) probably refers to the temple of that name in Rome of which Soane in his copy of Lady Miller's Letters from Italy, 1777, p.190 (see catalogue entry under Sketchbooks) added to her comments on its 'elegant pediment' that 'the Brickwork behind the Marble is remaing / but no part of the inclined Cornice'. As it happens, the identification of the true Temple of Concord had to wait until 1825 and what Lady Miller and Soane saw was the Ionic Temple of Saturn.

SM volume 68/1 to SM volume 68/4 are designs for the principal front that follow the same overall design as in SM 46/3/8 verso, variation occurs with the alternative treatments for the entrance and entrance bay. SM volume 68/1 ('No1') is very close to the 'No.3' design of SM 46/3/8 verso; the optional pair of coupled columns has been dropped. SM volume 68/2 ('No2') is based on SM 46/3/8 verso, ('No 4' design) and SM volume 68/3 ('No 3') is based on the detail on SM 46/3/8. SM voume 68/4 is close to SM volume 68/2 but above the front door is a balustraded balcony with a semicircular arched recess behind it. The entrance stairs (on the elevations) are treated differently in each design so that there are either four external stairs or a dozen. The portico and stair of SM volume 68/3 corrresponds with SM 46/3/9 and the modest few stairs of SM volume 68/4 with SM 46/3/8 (flyer).

The present building, which replaced an older one, was begun by William Mitford (1699-1777) in 1760 to the designs of John Upton, surveyor to the nearby Petworth Estate. Mitford's son, also called William (1748-1824), consulted Soane in 1794. Both William Mitfords worked in the Treasury and were Receiver-Generals for Sussex (as was the second William's son Charles). A letter, dated 18 March 1784, in the Soane Museum Archives from Soane to Mitford gives a clue to the history of the project: 'I am favored with your letter and am exceedingly / sorry that it is not in my power to send you the Drawings / for after the conversation with your Builder, finding they did / not accord with his Ideas I destroyed them supposing they / could never be of any use to you. // As to any charge it was never my intention to be / considered professionaly in this business. You will therefore have / the goodness to accept of my trouble and believe me // Dear Sir // Most truly yours // John Soane' SM Letter Books ). The builder may have followed some of Soane's suggestions since the entrance front is of two storeys over a basement, seven bays wide, with a rusticated ground floor and a tablet below each of the ground floor windows. However, some elements such as the Neo-Palladian pediment with oculus and crossed palm fronds in the tympanum must have been the builder's contribution. Inside, the vestibule with dining and drawing room on either side was built.

Information: (www.) The National Archives: West Sussex Record Office: The Mitford Archives

Jill Lever, November 2012