Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
Giltspur Street Compter (Debtors' Prison), City of London, 1787
Browse
Reference number
SM D4/3/32
Purpose
Giltspur Street Compter (Debtors' Prison), City of London, 1787
Aspect
[1] Ground plan with site shown
Scale
1/16 in to 1 ft
Inscribed
labelled North, East, Gilt Spur Street, St Sepulcher's Church, Newgate Street, Part of Newgate, Mr Newman's Premises, Common side Debtors, No.60 Men, Tower containing No.40 Cells / for Fellons, Common side / Debtors / No.10 Women / Yard, rooms for / better sort / of / Felons / for / Trial / Yard, Master side No.25 Men / Debtors, Stairs to / Rooms for Night Charges / Men, Stairs to / Night Charges / Women, Kitchen, Turnkey, Office, Sheriff's Office, dimensions given and (verso) Compter / Giltspur & Newgte / Streets and Plan with / Tower
Signed and dated
- 1787
Medium and dimensions
Pen, light red and sepia washes, pencil within double ruled border, partly pricked for transfer, on laid paper (660 x 580)
Hand
Dance
Watermark
J Whatman
Notes
The principal front faces south on to Newgate Street (rather than Giltspur Street as in the built design) with a perimeter wall running east, west and north enclosing four ranges of buildings that, in turn, enclose an inner walled area with a tower for 40 male prisoners. Four cells with two lobbies are shown on the ground floor of the tower and, assuming six cells for the other floors, the tower would have been seven storeys high. The plan is circular, with a circular staircase in the centre, and six compartments arranged, radially, each with a projecting straight-sided bay. Stroud ('The Giltspur Street Compter', Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, XXVII, 1984, p.129) suggests that the tower arrangement brings to mind Jeremy Bentham's 'Panoptical Principle', published in 1791 but long meditated and also discussed with the penal reformer John Howard, a friend of Dance who drew his portrait.
A model was made of the scheme for committee approval on 16 March 1786, but the estimated cost of £39,000 was too high and Dance was asked to prepare a revised design with accommodation for 136 prisoners that was not to exceed £25,000.
REPRODUCED. D Stroud, 'The Giltspur Street Compter', Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, XXVII, 1984, fig.1.
A model was made of the scheme for committee approval on 16 March 1786, but the estimated cost of £39,000 was too high and Dance was asked to prepare a revised design with accommodation for 136 prisoners that was not to exceed £25,000.
REPRODUCED. D Stroud, 'The Giltspur Street Compter', Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, XXVII, 1984, fig.1.
Level
Drawing
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk