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Design showing the basement plan for a house of five by three bays with four floors, composed as a rectangle with four single-bay corner towers
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/122
Purpose
Design showing the basement plan for a house of five by three bays with four floors, composed as a rectangle with four single-bay corner towers
Aspect
Plan
Scale
1 in to 13 ft
Signed and dated
- Undated, 1750s
Medium and dimensions
Pen, grey wash with black ink framing line
219 x 289
Hand
Adam Scottish Office
Watermark
shield with bend
Notes
The drawings in Adam vol.7/120-124 show four plans and an elevation for the same villa; the composition with corner towers was a familiar one in the Scottish practice of William Adam and, after 1748, of John Adam and his brothers. This building can be related to the James Adam scheme of 1756 in Adam vol.7/17, as well as to other villa plans in the Blair Adam Collection (see BA 594; see also Architectural History, vol.20, 1977, pl.59). The outstanding example of this towered plan type is William Adam's Duff House, Banff, Scotland of 1735-41. The draughtsmanship here is typical of the Scottish Office in the 1750s and can be compared with the drawing style of the Adam Hot and Cold Baths scheme of c.1755 in the Blair Adam Collection, the façade design of which is close to Adam vol.7/124 in composition and technique (see BA 430 and a smaller version of 1752 in BA 189). There are also a series of pavilion exercises in Adam vol.19/109-114; like such schemes these drawings are probably academic exercises and associated with James Adam.
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