Drawings 223 to 228 date to the period after the house had been built. This suggests that Soane was not entirely happy with the house at that time. In this group of plans, the Dance wing has been drastically cropped and the outer wall rounded off. Drawing 225 shows this particularly clearly as both the existing wall (as an outline only) and the proposed wall plan are shown.

Drawing 223 shows one room with curved walls added and all except drawing 224 show a range of rooms projecting from the lawn front. Drawing 228 shows the effect of the alterations in perspective. The lawn front extension is very similar to the one that now exists.

These designs also relate to a rough sketch (in Soane's hand) on drawing 133 (Section 4), which suggests the cropping and rounding off of the Dance wing. This particular sketch (on drawing 133) is dated to 17 October 1806, although aside from this sketch the drawing itself relates to earlier designs.

Although only two of the drawings are dated it seems likely that all of the above designs date to about 1806, partly due to their similarity to each other and also from the evidence of the watermarks.

Group

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