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  • image SM D4/1/1

Reference number

SM D4/1/1

Purpose

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, Old Street, Finsbury, Islington, London, 1777, 1781-2 and c.1794-1811

Aspect

[3] Front elevation, not finished

Scale

1/14 in to 1 ft

Signed and dated

  • 1777, 1781-2 c.1794-1811

Medium and dimensions

Pen, raw umber and sepia washes, pencil , shaded on laid paper (280 x 960)

Hand

Peacock?

Notes

The elevation shows - behind a buttressed screen wall, 15 foot high and railed in the centre - a three-storey, 49-bay building punctuated by a domed centre consisting of a three-bay bow flanked by single canted bays linked to three projecting bays of the wings, and end pavilions that have a three-bay front with a canted bay on each side; the inner one again linked to three projecting bays. The centre three bays of these three units have giant pilasters and the upper storeys have over-scaled festoons, while the intervening bays are plain with three rows of semicircular-headed windows, those of the first and second floors under shared repeating single arches.

The elevation is not drawn by Dance and there is a puzzle as to its author. Kalman considers that James Peacock - Dance's chief assistant from about 1767 to 1814 - is a likely candidate on the evidence of similarities with a contemporary design for the west side of Finsbury Square also attributed by Kalman to Peacock as well as, for example, the additive character of the decoration. The draughtsmanship of this elevation and the Finsbury Square elevation are similar.

At what stage the drawing (with [SM D4/1/2]) was made is not known. It may have been a competition entry that was not completed in time though as Dance's assistant, Peacock (if it is his design) would presumably have been ineligible; or, it might have been made after the competition and before the final design was settled.

REPRODUCED. P. du Prey, John Soane, the making of an architect 1982, fig.3.14.

Level

Drawing

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk