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Working drawing for the cornice, July 1810

The full size detail shows a stone cornice with drip above a narrow 'paving brick' (defined in W. Papworth (ed) for the Architectural Publication Society, Dictionary of architecture, published in parts 1848-1892) as purpose-made for pavements and measuring 9x4½x1¾. The shorter dimensions of Soane's paving brick are 4½ x 1½. The upright brick is the usual 9 inches and the two bricks form a dentil course or 'toothing'. At Moggerhanger, the house (including the cornice) was rendered with Parker's Metallic Stucco so that the irregularities of old and new brickwork were masked. With Soane's brick facades, the dentil course or toothing is easier to read.
The drawing catalogued here is from a folder of 80 drawings of which about half are for cornices. Soane's office filing system for drawings of details often grouped them so as to make for easy retrieval for use on another job.
Below is a preliminary note for Soane Museum cataloguers from the unpublished glossary of terms for Soane's architecture.

Toothing. Generally 'toothing' describes the projection of alternate stretcher bricks laid vertically under an eaves, cornice or string course. Soane's version of toothing employs slightly T-shaped projections, for example, in his preliminary design for a dairy at Betchworth Castle, (not dated) from 1789 (volume 42/154) that is labelled 'brick Tryglyphs' [triglyphs] that were to be used with ‘flints between’. The domed caps to the (flint) gate piers at Pitzhanger Manor (variant designs 168, 170 - SM 32/1/17-18), have masonry toothing. Built examples of toothing at Soane's own houses (front elevations of Nos 12 and 14) have a pair of stretcher bricks placed vertically with a single horizontal stretcher placed at the top. Other examples found on drawings have a single stretcher brick placed vertically with a half-stretcher brick placed horizontally at the top. 'Toothing' is presumably the English vernacular version of 'Dentilation' but it seems an appropriate term for Soane's idiosyncratic version. jl Jan.2011
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