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Presentation drawings of three alternative preliminary designs for the house, one dated 29 June 1793 (4)
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Presentation drawings of three alternative preliminary designs for the house, one dated 29 June 1793 (4)
Notes
Soane's Journal No 1 records that on 8 June 1793 he and Praed settled on building a new house, rather than make alterations to the existing building (surveyed in drawings 1 to 4). Drawings 23 to 26 show variant designs for this new building. Drawing 26 is dated 29 June 1793 and the other three were probably made the same month.
Drawings 23 to 26 show houses on a similar plan but with alternative front elevations and other variations in, for example, fenestration and room forms. These are early preliminary designs for Tyringham, yet the building's executed cross-axial layout is already settled upon: a centrally-placed entrance vestibule is aligned with the rear-facing bowed drawing room; the vestibule gives onto the principal corridor that links both sides of the house; the right-hand side of the plan has a bedroom suite and private room communicating with the stairwell that contains a geometric staircase. The building has generous dimensions yet it is compactly organized. A portico surrounds the front entrance. The rooms' allocations are not yet confirmed, as indicated by the pencil alterations on drawing 24.
Drawing 23 appears to be a preliminary design for the house. The front has six bays and a recessed portico raised on a semicircular podium. Pencil alterations suggest alterations to the staircase, a lantern over the principal corridor, and columns fronting the bowed rear front. The first floor plan is overlaid in pencil on the left-hand side of the drawing.
Drawing 24 has a portico of six raised columns on the front elevation. Pedestals between the windows are crowned with lion statues, and a further two statues flank the front portico. The entrance is recessed on the front elevation and leads to a groin-vaulted entrance hall. As with the other designs, the vestibule gives onto a cross passage, with the principal rooms to the left and the best staircase placed centrally to the right. The private rooms are on the right-hand side of the plan and accessed via this semicircular stairwell. Rooms in drawing 24 are relabelled in feint pencil: the library is reassigned as a breakfast room; and the billiard room is relabelled as a library. A drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection shows an elevation that corresponds to the design in drawing 24, having a pedimented hexastyle portico and pilasters at the corners (see P. du Prey's catalogue of Soane drawings at the V&A: P. du Prey, Sir John Soane, 1985, in series of 'Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', catalogue 126).
Drawing 25 has a pedimented portico supported by six paired Ionic columns. As in drawing 24, the entrance is recessed and leads into a vestibule giving onto the main corridor. The staircase and the situation of the rooms are the same as drawing 25. One of the rooms is on a semicircular plan with apsidal alcoves in two corners. The back elevation has eight attached columns spaced at varying intervals between the elevation's seven windows. Pencil alterations show a door included to provide an enfilade through the house along the rear wall. The elevation is a building of three bays, with apsidal niches between the windows on a rusticated ground floor. An inscription suggests omitting the pediment, and a dome and figurative sculptures have been added in pencil.
Drawing 26 is the same design as drawing 25 but with a variant front elevation and added communications to the drawing rooom, the latter having been included in pencil on drawing 25.
Drawings 23 to 26 show houses on a similar plan but with alternative front elevations and other variations in, for example, fenestration and room forms. These are early preliminary designs for Tyringham, yet the building's executed cross-axial layout is already settled upon: a centrally-placed entrance vestibule is aligned with the rear-facing bowed drawing room; the vestibule gives onto the principal corridor that links both sides of the house; the right-hand side of the plan has a bedroom suite and private room communicating with the stairwell that contains a geometric staircase. The building has generous dimensions yet it is compactly organized. A portico surrounds the front entrance. The rooms' allocations are not yet confirmed, as indicated by the pencil alterations on drawing 24.
Drawing 23 appears to be a preliminary design for the house. The front has six bays and a recessed portico raised on a semicircular podium. Pencil alterations suggest alterations to the staircase, a lantern over the principal corridor, and columns fronting the bowed rear front. The first floor plan is overlaid in pencil on the left-hand side of the drawing.
Drawing 24 has a portico of six raised columns on the front elevation. Pedestals between the windows are crowned with lion statues, and a further two statues flank the front portico. The entrance is recessed on the front elevation and leads to a groin-vaulted entrance hall. As with the other designs, the vestibule gives onto a cross passage, with the principal rooms to the left and the best staircase placed centrally to the right. The private rooms are on the right-hand side of the plan and accessed via this semicircular stairwell. Rooms in drawing 24 are relabelled in feint pencil: the library is reassigned as a breakfast room; and the billiard room is relabelled as a library. A drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection shows an elevation that corresponds to the design in drawing 24, having a pedimented hexastyle portico and pilasters at the corners (see P. du Prey's catalogue of Soane drawings at the V&A: P. du Prey, Sir John Soane, 1985, in series of 'Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', catalogue 126).
Drawing 25 has a pedimented portico supported by six paired Ionic columns. As in drawing 24, the entrance is recessed and leads into a vestibule giving onto the main corridor. The staircase and the situation of the rooms are the same as drawing 25. One of the rooms is on a semicircular plan with apsidal alcoves in two corners. The back elevation has eight attached columns spaced at varying intervals between the elevation's seven windows. Pencil alterations show a door included to provide an enfilade through the house along the rear wall. The elevation is a building of three bays, with apsidal niches between the windows on a rusticated ground floor. An inscription suggests omitting the pediment, and a dome and figurative sculptures have been added in pencil.
Drawing 26 is the same design as drawing 25 but with a variant front elevation and added communications to the drawing rooom, the latter having been included in pencil on drawing 25.
Literature
P. du Prey, Sir John Soane, 1985, in series of 'Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', catalogue 126, plate 27, pp. 59-60.
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Contents of Presentation drawings of three alternative preliminary designs for the house, one dated 29 June 1793 (4)
- [23] Presentation drawing of an alternative preliminary design for the house, c. June 1793
- [24] Presentation drawing of an alternative preliminary design for the house, c. June 1793
- [25] Presentation drawing of an alternative preliminary design for the house, c. June 1793
- [26] Presentation drawing of an alternative preliminary design for the house, 29 June 1793