to a scale

(Soane) Design for the alterations & improvement / submitted to the Committee of Building / Jan: 25: 1803, accompanied with a written / Description, Plan referred to Feb: 15: 1803 / See Secretary's Minutes, plan labelled (office hand): Lothbury, Church, Princes Street, Threadneedle Street, Royal Exchange, Entrance (twice), Paved Court, Pay Hall, Lobby, A, B, Treasury, Vestibule, Strong Room, Rotunda, Three Per Cent Consols / Dividend Office, Vestibule (twice), Bank Stock / Office, Three Per Cent Consols / Transfer Office, Interior Office / to Consols, Lothbury Court, Accountant's / Room, M^r Newland's / Room, Accountants Office (twice), Deputy / Accountants / Room, Staircase, Porters Lodge, G, Vestibule, Urinal / Court, O, Barracks, P, Staircase, Barrack / Court, L, Waiting / Room, M, Waiting Room, Officer's / Room, Bed / Room, Officer's Serv^t / Room, Court, Waiting Room, K, Clerk / of Committee, Deputy / Governors Room, Lobby for / Parlor Door / Keeper / N, Waiting Room (three times), H, Strong / Room, Committee / in Waiting, Vestibule Court / and Committee / Room, Entrance from Princes Street to the Different Offices, Discount / Office, Drawing Office, The Garden, The / Dividend Pay Office, The Cheque Office, The Three Per Cent Reduced / Office, The / Committee Room, The Court Room

• as above, presented 25 January 1803

Soane office and Soane

This drawing, SM 9/2/13, SM 9/2/05 and SM 9/2/9 concern the design of the southern portion of the north-west extension. This drawing, SM 9/2/10 and SM 9/2/9 were presented to the Building Committee in January 1803. The minutes from the building committee record that one of the drawings, probably this one, was approved on 15 February.

The design sequence begins with SM 9/2/13, showing the basic layout for the offices in the first phase of the north-west wing (ie the offices and corridors south of the new Accountants Office). An entrance from Princes Street is included in the design, leading to a long east-west corridor (as built).

SM 9/2/10, presented 19 January, shows an alternative perimeter for the Screen Wall. Being a presentation drawing, Soane's rough alterations to the drawing were made in response to the Committee's comments and recommendations. The alterations show a larger Accountants Office and the Screen Wall perimeter reduced to its previous form. The Princes Street Screen Wall shows a four-columned portico in the centre.

This drawing and SM 9/2/9 were shown in late January. This drawing shows a rudimentary version of the finished buildings, and was referred to on 15 February when the building committee approved Soane's plans. SM 9/2/9 is a more refined design and includes a wider (from north to south) Waiting Room Court, thereby elongating the adjacent offices.

An amendment to SM 9/2/9, in red ink, shows the introduction of the Barracks in the north of the new wing. The inscription suggests that the Barrack's are included upon the directors' advice. Another note in this drawing raises the issue of a tenant by the name of Collingridge who was still occupying his house near the corner of the proposed Screen Wall, thereby delaying construction of the wall (including the future Tivoli Corner).

The proposed designs include plans for the new extension as well as reconfiguring the directors' offices and other parts of the Bank including the Discount Office, Pay Hall and Bullion Court (see separate schemes). In SM 9/2/9 such alterations are indicated: the stairs are reduced in the Paved Court (also called the Front Court); the Bullion Office is expanded; and the offices north of the Pay Hall are slightly modified.

All four drawings have variant designs for the Lothbury screen wall. This drawing, SM 9/2/13 and SM 9/2/10 show prostyle pedimented porticos. In SM 9/2/13 the portico has six columns, and in this drawing it has only four. SM 9/2/10 has a portico in antis, with four columns framed by pilasters. In SM 9/2/9, the frontispiece has been much reduced to a small projection of four pilasters surmounted by a pediment.

Variant designs for the proposed Princes Street front are also shown in this drawing, SM 9/2/10 and SM 9/2/9. This drawing shows a round-headed, pedimented entrance. SM 9/2/9 has a similar design but with a shorter attic and an additional level added in pen.

M. Acres, The Bank of England from within, Oxford, 1931, pp. 387-388
D. Abramson, Money's architecture: the building of the Bank of England, 1731-1833, doctoral thesis for the Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University, 1993, pp. 384-389

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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