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[5] Design for the front part of a hothouse, cross-section, datable to August 1792
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Reference number
SM 8/3/36
Purpose
[5] Design for the front part of a hothouse, cross-section, datable to August 1792
Aspect
Cross-section ; rough (?)section; (verso) plan for Tyringham House
Scale
bar scale of 1/7 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
dimensions given, some in pencil, and calculations
Signed and dated
- August 1792
datable to August 1792 (see Notes in group-folder)
Medium and dimensions
pen and grey and pink washes, pencil on wove paper with one fold mark (539 x 333)
Hand
Soane Office
Soane office
Soane office
Watermark
B and fleur-de-lis
Notes
A hothouse design is shown in section on drawings 3 to 5. Drawing 3 is a preliminary drawing, showing a design similar to drawing 1. Drawing 4 is a copy, with slight pencil alterations that are executed in the more finished drawing 5.
The design provides three systems for heating the room to a suitable temperature for growing pineapples. The planting bed at the centre of the room is warmed by the decaying bark packed within it (see drawing 1). Also providing heat are the triple-glazed lean-to roof and south-facing walls. Lastly, flues filled with hot air surround the room behind thin brick walls. Circulation around the room is provided by a passage measuring 2 feet 3 inches wide (altered to 2 feet).
The office Daybook of 1792 records that Thomas Chawner and Frederick Meyer were 'drawing sections of Hot house at Wimp[o]le' on 15 August 1792. Soane delivered to Lord Hardwicke a design for the hothouse the next day; the drawings included 'parts at large', probably drawing 2 and a fair copy of drawing 5. More design drawings for hothouses were made in the following week and working drawings were not made until May of the next year, indicating that Lord Hardwicke was not satisfied with this proposal. On 7 September Chawner went to Bentley Priory to draw a plan and section of the hothouse and send it to Wimpole, perhaps as a reference for improved designs.
The design provides three systems for heating the room to a suitable temperature for growing pineapples. The planting bed at the centre of the room is warmed by the decaying bark packed within it (see drawing 1). Also providing heat are the triple-glazed lean-to roof and south-facing walls. Lastly, flues filled with hot air surround the room behind thin brick walls. Circulation around the room is provided by a passage measuring 2 feet 3 inches wide (altered to 2 feet).
The office Daybook of 1792 records that Thomas Chawner and Frederick Meyer were 'drawing sections of Hot house at Wimp[o]le' on 15 August 1792. Soane delivered to Lord Hardwicke a design for the hothouse the next day; the drawings included 'parts at large', probably drawing 2 and a fair copy of drawing 5. More design drawings for hothouses were made in the following week and working drawings were not made until May of the next year, indicating that Lord Hardwicke was not satisfied with this proposal. On 7 September Chawner went to Bentley Priory to draw a plan and section of the hothouse and send it to Wimpole, perhaps as a reference for improved designs.
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