Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, City of London, 1795
Browse
Reference number
SM D3/7/1
Purpose
Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, City of London, 1795
Aspect
[1] Cross-section showing the king-post roof truss and coffered ceiling and plan at two levels of Half the Ceiling in Ledgiment [sic]
Scale
to a scale
Inscribed
as above, labelled Beam (twice), Plate (four times), King post, Principal, Inter Tye and some dimensions given including 9.10 (five times) between centre of bays
Dated: (faint pencil) Octr 1795
Signed and dated
- 1795
Medium and dimensions
Pen and pencil on wove paper (285 x 580)
Hand
Dance
Notes
Dr Sally Jeffery (letter July 1996) wrote 'I do think [the drawing] is of the Egyptian Hall at the Mansion House. The dimensions fit - 9ft 10 in is the distance between the centre of the bays - and the roof truss is very close to what was eventually built. It is very similar to a drawing in the Corporation of London Records Office (MAN/GEN 12) .... Here Dance (or someone else) has added an additional brace, and you can see the as-built result in an 1881 drawing (CLRO, MAN/GEN 54) .... Your drawing looks like Dance working out detailed dimensions just before the final contract for lowering the roof, which was signed with William Rolfe on 11 November 1795. Drawings were shown to the committee on 16 October 1795 and approved on 28 October, and I see that there is an annotation 'October 1795' on the drawing.
The Clerk of the Works Journal from 1792 to 1801 (CLRO 131B f.140 verso) has an entry for 12 October 1795, recording that a model was to be made of the design for lowering the roof. This was made by Fisher and cost £2.13.0.
David Yeomans (email, 19 July 2001) commented that 'The curious thing about this [design] is the way in which there are long timbers to the top of the king post to carry the ceiling plaster falsework. In the earlier churches with vaulted ceilings this falsework was always hung from the beam of the trusses'.
'Ledgement' refers to the stretching out of the barrel-vaulted ceiling on a plan 'so that the dimensions of the different sides may be easily ascertained' (OED). Dance uses the same term - a 'section in ledgement' - for the Royal College of Surgeons ([SM D5/3/24]).
See drawing by George Dance the Younger or his office for designs for alterations to the 'cortile', the Egyptian Hall and the front steps at the Mansion House.
The Clerk of the Works Journal from 1792 to 1801 (CLRO 131B f.140 verso) has an entry for 12 October 1795, recording that a model was to be made of the design for lowering the roof. This was made by Fisher and cost £2.13.0.
David Yeomans (email, 19 July 2001) commented that 'The curious thing about this [design] is the way in which there are long timbers to the top of the king post to carry the ceiling plaster falsework. In the earlier churches with vaulted ceilings this falsework was always hung from the beam of the trusses'.
'Ledgement' refers to the stretching out of the barrel-vaulted ceiling on a plan 'so that the dimensions of the different sides may be easily ascertained' (OED). Dance uses the same term - a 'section in ledgement' - for the Royal College of Surgeons ([SM D5/3/24]).
See drawing by George Dance the Younger or his office for designs for alterations to the 'cortile', the Egyptian Hall and the front steps at the Mansion House.
Level
Drawing
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk