Notes
Adam’s design for the hall is somewhat restrained, set in contrast to the elaborate stairwell beyond. A cast iron stove in the form of an obelisk was designed to heat the space, but unfortunately it does not survive. It does, however, appear to have been executed. Colin Thom has noted a reference to an extraordinary stove in Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 12 April 1781. King notes variations made to the hall ceiling design, possibly on execution, with an alternative centre piece used. There is some question as to whether the marbling in the hall and stairwell is a part of the original Adam scheme, as it is omitted from the designs. King doubts that the papering is original, but compares it to an Adam design for a passageway in Bolton House. Arthur Bolton, however, suggests that is may form a part of Adam’s scheme, particularly when considered alongside the porphyry treatment of the columns in the front parlour. Bolton also makes comparisons to Sir John Soane’s use of porphyry and giallo treatment in the hall and staircase of no 12 and 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, alongside Soane’s earlier use of marbling in the domed parlour of Pitzhanger Manor, c1802.
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Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
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
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George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings
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