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Design for an unidentified country house, c.1771? (2). Presentation drawings
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Design for an unidentified country house, c.1771? (2). Presentation drawings
Notes
There is no indication of date, location or client for this country house design of which the south front (except for the loggia and raised centre) is close to the east front of James Wyatt's Dodington Park, 1798-1813. Kalman (pp. 365-6, n.106) notes that similarity but rightly adds that Dance's north front seems not to fit the Dodington layout. While a resemblance to Dodington is intriguing (Dance had two copies of the plan, one watermarked 1811, in his collection and used them as a source for one of his alternative designs for Wilderness Park, Design C, [SM D2/10/5]) it appears to be a coincidence and this design is not thought to be for the re-modelling of Dodington and the addition of a screen wall.
That the drawings are early (and pre-date Dodington) is shown by the inscribed titles that are in the youthful hand found on Dance's drawings for the Parma competition of 1763, All Hallows Church, 1765 and Newgate Sessions House, 1769. The rather severe design with its block-like massing, use of stone and niches for sculpture also suggests an early date. Soane, in his unpublished Memoirs of the professional life of an architect (1835, p.11 footnote), mentions Dance 'having been employed to design and superintend the erection of a house for a friend' on his return from Italy in 1764. It is tempting to link this commission with a house at Isleworth, Middlesex for 'Mr (probably John) Franks, c.1770' listed by Colvin) that may be connected with 'The Garden front of a house for a gentleman in the country' exhibited by Dance at the Royal Academy in 1771; Dorothy Stroud (p.179) suggests that it may have been a design for Pitzhanger.
The south elevation, catalogued here, is certainly a garden front with its loggia and (highly unusual) twin treillage plant houses 80 feet long that suggests a horticulturally inclined client. What is curious is the screen-like function of the treillage arrangement which steers people away from the flanks of the house and conceals, from the garden side, much of the screen wall that fronts the north elevation. The nearness of this screen wall to the house and its high, blank walls suggest that it is sited near a road rather than in the middle of a park. Until new evidence emerges, it is not possible to speculate further about a possible client or location.
That the drawings are early (and pre-date Dodington) is shown by the inscribed titles that are in the youthful hand found on Dance's drawings for the Parma competition of 1763, All Hallows Church, 1765 and Newgate Sessions House, 1769. The rather severe design with its block-like massing, use of stone and niches for sculpture also suggests an early date. Soane, in his unpublished Memoirs of the professional life of an architect (1835, p.11 footnote), mentions Dance 'having been employed to design and superintend the erection of a house for a friend' on his return from Italy in 1764. It is tempting to link this commission with a house at Isleworth, Middlesex for 'Mr (probably John) Franks, c.1770' listed by Colvin) that may be connected with 'The Garden front of a house for a gentleman in the country' exhibited by Dance at the Royal Academy in 1771; Dorothy Stroud (p.179) suggests that it may have been a design for Pitzhanger.
The south elevation, catalogued here, is certainly a garden front with its loggia and (highly unusual) twin treillage plant houses 80 feet long that suggests a horticulturally inclined client. What is curious is the screen-like function of the treillage arrangement which steers people away from the flanks of the house and conceals, from the garden side, much of the screen wall that fronts the north elevation. The nearness of this screen wall to the house and its high, blank walls suggest that it is sited near a road rather than in the middle of a park. Until new evidence emerges, it is not possible to speculate further about a possible client or location.
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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