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Mount Stewart, County Down, Northern Ireland, 1803-04
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Reference number
SM D3/9/1b
Purpose
Mount Stewart, County Down, Northern Ireland, 1803-04
Aspect
[9] Lord Londonderry to Dance
Signed and dated
- 1803-4
Medium and dimensions
Pen on wove secretary paper (225 x 375, folded once)
Hand
Londonderry
Notes
Dr Sir
I send you enclosed a / Sketch which will enable you to under- / stand the Ground ^Plan on the Entrance side of / the Building with the height of / the Windows & Stories. Before I had / received your letter, I had determin / ed these two Points the blame or / bad / Taste as to the Proportion / of the Windows I must take upon / myself for altho' the Builder wished / to have made the Windows somewhat / higher I would not hear of it, / for my own idea is that more / Glass than is wanted handsomely / to light the Room tends to make / it cold, and when too much Sky / is let in the Glare offends the Eyes / & you are obliged to have recourse, even / when there is no Sun to Blinds / or shutters. I also decided on mak- / ing the Bedchambers higher than / you propose. I acknowledge the / Proportion may be less pleasing / as to the look of the Building / without; but I would like airy Sleeping / Rooms which are particularly / eligible, in case of illness / as Stones, & Mortar, are not / scarce with us, the additional / Expence is insignificant. I make / the walls very thick & substan- / tial which you will perceive / from the Ground Plan; & as I / mean this to be a permanent / Dwelling which may be added to, / when our present house fails, wch / I think might be cleverly con- / trived by building a Green House on / the South aspect next to the Sea, behind / wch might be the Passage of Commu- / nication & accommodation for Servts / & then a Building to range in conformity / to what I am now making, / in which the Family Ap- / partments might be arranged, / under this Notion, I wish to finish / & compleat every Part of the New work / in a Substantial, & neat plain manner; / for which Reason, I shall certainly have the Porch of Free stone, as / the Sketch you sent was to be of / wood, will you have the Goodness / to scratch out, / how it had best be done / in cut Stone and also give me your opinion / whether a Wyatt Window in the / center of the 2d storey woul be eligi / -ble the lower ones are proposed to / be wider than what are in the Library / wch are 4ft:6 & to have four Paines - this / is all I shall plague you for ex / cept some sort of Sketch, or full / explanation, / how the folding / Doors ae to be constructed / for I am much afraid my / carpenters, will blunder, in the / executing of them & as I mean / they shou'd be of Mahogany / finished in the neatest & best / manner. I conceive they ought / to line with the wainscot in both / Rooms; & therefore be double as / well as folding Doors - otherwise / the Sound of People's Voices will / be heard in the adjoining Room. I recollect nothing more I need / mention except that I have now / Twelve Masons at work & the Building / is going on so fast the sooner you / can let me hear from you, the [end]
The 'enclosed ... sketch' is presumably drawing [SM D3/9/3], Ferguson's survey elevation of the entrance front with a plan of this elevation. The Wyatt window in the center of the 2d storey' may refer to the plain rectangular three-part window over the porte-cochere (drawings [SM D3/9/3] and [SM D3/9/6]) or a similar window on Dance's west elevation also at first floor level. This is above a correct Wyatt window, that is, a tripartite window with a broad central opening flanked on either side by a smaller one, the whole beneath a segmental arch.
I send you enclosed a / Sketch which will enable you to under- / stand the Ground ^Plan on the Entrance side of / the Building with the height of / the Windows & Stories. Before I had / received your letter, I had determin / ed these two Points the blame or / bad / Taste as to the Proportion / of the Windows I must take upon / myself for altho' the Builder wished / to have made the Windows somewhat / higher I would not hear of it, / for my own idea is that more / Glass than is wanted handsomely / to light the Room tends to make / it cold, and when too much Sky / is let in the Glare offends the Eyes / & you are obliged to have recourse, even / when there is no Sun to Blinds / or shutters. I also decided on mak- / ing the Bedchambers higher than / you propose. I acknowledge the / Proportion may be less pleasing / as to the look of the Building / without; but I would like airy Sleeping / Rooms which are particularly / eligible, in case of illness / as Stones, & Mortar, are not / scarce with us, the additional / Expence is insignificant. I make / the walls very thick & substan- / tial which you will perceive / from the Ground Plan; & as I / mean this to be a permanent / Dwelling which may be added to, / when our present house fails, wch / I think might be cleverly con- / trived by building a Green House on / the South aspect next to the Sea, behind / wch might be the Passage of Commu- / nication & accommodation for Servts / & then a Building to range in conformity / to what I am now making, / in which the Family Ap- / partments might be arranged, / under this Notion, I wish to finish / & compleat every Part of the New work / in a Substantial, & neat plain manner; / for which Reason, I shall certainly have the Porch of Free stone, as / the Sketch you sent was to be of / wood, will you have the Goodness / to scratch out, / how it had best be done / in cut Stone and also give me your opinion / whether a Wyatt Window in the / center of the 2d storey woul be eligi / -ble the lower ones are proposed to / be wider than what are in the Library / wch are 4ft:6 & to have four Paines - this / is all I shall plague you for ex / cept some sort of Sketch, or full / explanation, / how the folding / Doors ae to be constructed / for I am much afraid my / carpenters, will blunder, in the / executing of them & as I mean / they shou'd be of Mahogany / finished in the neatest & best / manner. I conceive they ought / to line with the wainscot in both / Rooms; & therefore be double as / well as folding Doors - otherwise / the Sound of People's Voices will / be heard in the adjoining Room. I recollect nothing more I need / mention except that I have now / Twelve Masons at work & the Building / is going on so fast the sooner you / can let me hear from you, the [end]
The 'enclosed ... sketch' is presumably drawing [SM D3/9/3], Ferguson's survey elevation of the entrance front with a plan of this elevation. The Wyatt window in the center of the 2d storey' may refer to the plain rectangular three-part window over the porte-cochere (drawings [SM D3/9/3] and [SM D3/9/6]) or a similar window on Dance's west elevation also at first floor level. This is above a correct Wyatt window, that is, a tripartite window with a broad central opening flanked on either side by a smaller one, the whole beneath a segmental arch.
Level
Drawing
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