Inscribed
as above, Drawings of one of the trussed Girders of the floor of the new Cheque Office at the Bank, Oak (three times), Fir (twice), abutment Plate / of Lead 3/8 thick seen / at A in the / drawing above, The Iron work at / the abutment at A, 8.9" to the termination of the cut in the Beam, Iron, Whole length of the Beam in the rough 47.2" and some dimensions given
Signed and dated
Hand
Soane office
Notes
This drawing and SM volume 47/10 both show the raised floor structure of the office over the Reduced Annuities Office. The floor was raised so that it would not interfere with the structure of the roof below. The drawing shows the straining beam and rafters are made out of oak, whereas the beam underneath is made of fir. The rafter shown on both drawings is joined to the queen post by an iron abutment, labelled on SM volume 47/10 as 'made of Vat Hoop', which was probably a trade name for iron straps (iron-hoop straps were used to secure wooden barrels or vats). The inscription on SM volume 47/10 also indicates that a space was left between the beam and the queen post so that it could be screwed up at a later date. This was presumably to allow for any shift in the foundations or similar that might render the wooden structure loose.
Literature
W. Papworth (ed) for the Architectural Publication Society, Dictionary of architecture, published in parts 1848-1892, volume II, pp. 155
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural,
design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for
scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to
preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and
it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance
masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries
and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and
George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings
in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early
work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of
his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.
Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of
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