Drawing 6 was made by Soane for re-drawing by his pupil and sole office assistant John Sanders who, articled on 1 September 1784, had been a pupil for almost a year. The re-drawn details were sent on 16 August 1785. The earliest of the two gates with lodges that Soane designed for Langley Park is in a simple Doric style with plain (unfluted) and baseless columns. With internal dimensions of 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 7½ inches, it would have been a tight fit if each lodge was inhabited by a family. Built of local white brick with stone dressings, the lodges and gate still survive.

Soane's 'Account Book 1781-86', p.39, has an entry dated 16 April 1785 which notes that Soane made a 'Jo[urney]' or site visit to Langley Park, and 'left a fair plan & Elevation, approved - to send working drawings'. 'Two working drawings of Lodges' were sent on 20 April 1785. Site visits were made on 18 June, 14 July and 24 September. In the following year on 18 July 1786, the mason's work to the lodges was measured which suggests that the job was completed or nearly so. Soane's Bill Book 5 shows that the mason was John Blackburn and he was paid £59.5.7 for his work.

A plan and elevation were published in Soane's Plans, Elevations and Sections of Buildings erected in the Counties of Norfolk, Suffolk ... (1788 in fact 1789) as plate 23. The published design differs from drawings 3 and 4 in some particulars: for example, the front elevations have doors, not windows and are flanked by freestanding Doric columns instead of attached ones. Plate 24 is 'The elevation of a design made before the situation was determined' and has an arch between Ionic lodges; no corresponding drawing has been found.

Group

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