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Design for an unidentified country house for Sir Thomas Baring, after 1810 (1).
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Purpose
Design for an unidentified country house for Sir Thomas Baring, after 1810 (1).
Notes
Sir Thomas Baring (1772-1848), eldest of the three banking brothers of Baring Brothers & Co., succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father Sir Francis Baring in September 1810 so this design (inscribed 'Sir Thomas Baring Bart. / Devonshire Place') must have been made after that date. 'Devonshire Place' presumably refers to 21 Devonshire Place, St Marylebone, London which was Baring's town house for many years. That the design catalogued here is not for a site in Devonshire Place (as has been thought) becomes clear when the section is measured. With a depth of 119 feet from back to front, it is for a house two to three times larger than the terrace houses built in the early 1790s.
After 1810, Sir Thomas's principal country seat was at Stratton Park, on which Dance had worked for Sir Francis Baring, 1803-07. He also inherited the Manor House and its estate at Lee, 6 miles from the City and near to Blackheath, Greenwich and Lewisham. It included a house built for him while his father lived (which is now apparently incorporated into Pentland House). Sir Thomas made little use of Lee Manor and let it out. However he later acquired an estate in the West Country about which Joseph Farington noted (6 June 1817) 'Sir Thomas has purchased the reversion of the Family property at Exeter which belonged to His uncle the late John Baring, by allowing the present possessor son of J. Baring, £40,000 pr. annum & giving Him £20,000 in money.' But if Sir Thomas had proposed building something here, it seems unlikely that, in 1817, he would have turned to the elderly and retired Dance.
LITERATURE. Boyle's Court Guide (those for example, for 1812-45 show Sir T. Baring at 21 Devonshire Place); E & J. Birchenough, The Manor House Lee and its associations, 2nd., 1971, pp.53-6.
After 1810, Sir Thomas's principal country seat was at Stratton Park, on which Dance had worked for Sir Francis Baring, 1803-07. He also inherited the Manor House and its estate at Lee, 6 miles from the City and near to Blackheath, Greenwich and Lewisham. It included a house built for him while his father lived (which is now apparently incorporated into Pentland House). Sir Thomas made little use of Lee Manor and let it out. However he later acquired an estate in the West Country about which Joseph Farington noted (6 June 1817) 'Sir Thomas has purchased the reversion of the Family property at Exeter which belonged to His uncle the late John Baring, by allowing the present possessor son of J. Baring, £40,000 pr. annum & giving Him £20,000 in money.' But if Sir Thomas had proposed building something here, it seems unlikely that, in 1817, he would have turned to the elderly and retired Dance.
LITERATURE. Boyle's Court Guide (those for example, for 1812-45 show Sir T. Baring at 21 Devonshire Place); E & J. Birchenough, The Manor House Lee and its associations, 2nd., 1971, pp.53-6.
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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