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[280] Finished drawing with alternative design, New Law Courts, c 1822-23
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- Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
Reference number
SM 69/7/1r/b
Purpose
[280] Finished drawing with alternative design, New Law Courts, c 1822-23
Aspect
Plans of the entrance vestibule into the Court of Exchequer from St Margaret's Street, and adjacent offices as far east as the Baron's Retiring Room, showing proposal for removing the north wall and replacing it with a pair of columns and corresponding antae, with section of Ionic columns and antae, not executed
Scale
to a scale
Inscribed
dimensions given
Signed and dated
- c 1821-23
dated in accordance with known building campaign
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, orange wash, pen pricked for transfer on wove paper (564 x 428, maximum dimensions)
Hand
Sir John Soane RA (1753 - 1837), architect
Soane Office, draughtsman
Soane Office, draughtsman
Notes
Agreeing with Summerson's reading, the plan shown variants of the same plan (see note in file). The proposal would add grandeur to an otherwise understated entrance; the columns so placed as to straddle the depth of the stairs. There is a lightly-sketched (in pencil) segmental opening in the wall behind the columns, with radiating glazing bars. Given its position in conjunction with the stairs, this suggests an internal window rather than a doorway. This aesthetic solution also echoes Soane's work on the Scala Regia and Royal Gallery for the House of Lords. The elevation appears to be in Soane's hand.
Literature
Sawyer, 1999: p 539, footnote 1591
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation.
This catalogue of Soane’s designs for the New Law Courts was generously funded by The Worshipful Company of Mercers and The Pilgrim Trust.
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk