Drawing 45 shows a two-storey entrance front of three bays alternating with four giant panel pilasters. The ground floor windows have incised and recessed arches that surround and flank either side of the Ionic portico. The parapet has recessed segmental arches and a balustrade, separated by piers supporting antefixes. A single-storey office wing with a tall chimney stack extends to the south, on the left-hand side of the drawing. The frieze and antefixes continue around all four fronts of the building. The north front, in drawing 46, has a bombé front between windows and panel pilasters similar to the entrance front. The west elevation, as in drawing 47, has five bays with incised lintels above each window in the form of squared-off Ionic capitals. A parapet with segmental panels is over the centre three bays and below the dormer windows.

The prominent chimney stack of the domestic offices is almost as high as the house itself. Ptolemy Dean describes the chimney and its remarkable sillouette as a specific reminiscence of Vanbrugh (P. Dean, p.32).

To commemorate his architectural career, Soane asked Richardson to prepare watercolour views for an album. It seems that Richardson kept a duplicate set for himself, as an elevation in the Victoria and Albert (du Prey, cat. 91) is similar to drawing 45. It is smaller and it has a different landscape background. The detailing of the house is identical except in small details (railings and frieze) in both drawings. The hand appears the same (Richardson) and the V & A drawing could be a copy of drawing 45.

P. du Prey, Sir John Soane, 1985, in series of 'Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', cat. 91, p.51; G. Worsley, 'Pell Wall Hall, Staffordshire', Country Life, 7 April 1988, pp. 134-7; P. Dean, Sir John Soane and the country estate, 1999, pp. 34-35.

Group

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