[7] Design for the rotunda, c1789, unexecuted

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Robert and James Adam office drawings
- Commercial buildings
  - Haymarket Opera House, Pall Mall, London, unexecuted plans, elevations and sections for the opera house, possibly for Hon. George Hobart, c1789 (28)
    - Preliminary design, designs and finished drawing for the Haymarket (east) front of the opera house, c1789, unexecuted (6)

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Reference number

SM Adam volume 28/18

Purpose

[7] Design for the rotunda, c1789, unexecuted

Aspect

Side elevation of the curved south front and rotunda, with a projecting, balustraded Tuscan portico, raised on a plinth ornamented with ram masks and festoons. The portico is flanked by a curved, six-bay block, and is surmounted by a drum ornamented with festoons, supporting a stepped dome with an oculus. At the ground-storey level there are tripartite entrances with Tuscan screens, flanked by doorways set within relieving archways, all surmounted by lunettes and forming an arcade. At the first-storey level, tripartite balustraded windows are set behind Ionic screens, and are flanked by giant Tuscan pilasters and windows, with a string course of rope moulding and figurative roundels above. In the upper register Diocletian windows are flanked by short pilasters, and half-height windows. Beyond the six-bay block, there is a part-elevation of a balustraded link building. At the ground-storey level there is a tripartite window, articulated by tapering herm pilasters, and surmounted by a lunette. At the first-storey level there is a tripartite pedimented window, surmounted by a Diocletian window, and all set within a relieving arch

Scale

bar scale of 1 inch to 5 feet

Inscribed

[_ _ _ _ _ _] of the [?] Opera House to the west

Signed and dated

c1789
c1789

Medium and dimensions

Pen, pencil and wash on laid paper (460 x 355)

Hand

Possibly
Office hand, possibly Robert Morison or Daniel Robertson

Watermark

JWHATMAN

Notes

The rotunda forms part of the south entrance to the opera house, which SM Adam volumes 28/18 and 47/02 assigns as for the use of people belonging to the theatre. The first-floor plan (SM Adam volume 47/9) shows the entrance through the rotunda leads to the rear of the stage via a flight of steps.

Literature

Bolton, 1922, Volume II, Index p. 40
Sheppard, 1960, Volume XXIX, (i), p. 249
For a full list of literature references see scheme notes.

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