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[3] Record drawing for a prospect building and a temple
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Reference number
SM volume 41/67 verso
Purpose
[3] Record drawing for a prospect building and a temple
Aspect
Two elevations and two plans
Scale
bar scales of approximately 1/13 inch to 1 foot, 1/16 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
No 3, Design for a Prospect Building, No 5, Design for a Temple, 23:0, John Dennison Esqr
Signed and dated
- after April 1786 (see Notes)
Medium and dimensions
Pen and pencil on laid paper (364 x 244) bound into Precedents in Architecture SM volume 41
Hand
John Sanders (pupil 1 September 1784-90)
Watermark
T French
Notes
In April 1786 Soane provided John Denison with four designs for a prospect tower and one design for a temple, charging 10 gns for the tower and 5 guineas for the temple drawing. SM volume 41/67 verso and SM volume 41/68 are three of those five designs.
The two other prospect tower drawings, as shown in the Denison papers (See R. Hewlings, op.cit, for images) are variants of 'No 3': design No 1 is a nonagonal plan with a triangular central stairwell, rising six floors in two stages, the fourth storey having bracketed pediments over round-headed windows and a portico on the ground floor; design No 2 is on a circular plan with squared ends, rising four floors in two stages and having pedimented windows on two storeys.
Design No 3 (SM volume 41/67 verso) has the same plan as No 2, with three floors beneath a domed roof, and a balcony with strigilated banisters projecting on the second storey. The final design, No 4 (SM volume 41/68) has a four-part plan consisting of four towers around a circular centre, the towers rising over the centre and capped with domed turrets.
The two-storey domed temple design on SM volume 41/67 verso is the same as that sold to the client, having a hexagonal plan with a paired Doric order projecting at three corners.
SM volume 41/67 verso and SM volume 41/68 show alterations made to the drawings in pencil; these alterations, such as round-headed windows on No 4 and projecting apse in the temple, were not part of those designs sent to Denison in April 1786. SM volume 41/67 verso and SM volume 41/68, therefore, were made after April 1786 and as documentation of those designs sold to the client.
The two other prospect tower drawings, as shown in the Denison papers (See R. Hewlings, op.cit, for images) are variants of 'No 3': design No 1 is a nonagonal plan with a triangular central stairwell, rising six floors in two stages, the fourth storey having bracketed pediments over round-headed windows and a portico on the ground floor; design No 2 is on a circular plan with squared ends, rising four floors in two stages and having pedimented windows on two storeys.
Design No 3 (SM volume 41/67 verso) has the same plan as No 2, with three floors beneath a domed roof, and a balcony with strigilated banisters projecting on the second storey. The final design, No 4 (SM volume 41/68) has a four-part plan consisting of four towers around a circular centre, the towers rising over the centre and capped with domed turrets.
The two-storey domed temple design on SM volume 41/67 verso is the same as that sold to the client, having a hexagonal plan with a paired Doric order projecting at three corners.
SM volume 41/67 verso and SM volume 41/68 show alterations made to the drawings in pencil; these alterations, such as round-headed windows on No 4 and projecting apse in the temple, were not part of those designs sent to Denison in April 1786. SM volume 41/67 verso and SM volume 41/68, therefore, were made after April 1786 and as documentation of those designs sold to the client.
Level
Drawing
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