to a scale

(Soane) Plan of the Bank of England / referred to in the description of the / alterations presented to the Committee of / Building & afterwards submitted to the / Court of Directors 25^th Jan. 1803, NB The Governor observed that / in the Elevations the Recess / when shewn is in the Walls & / of course we shall see them repeated / in the wall already built, Jan: 25; 1803, V, V. When this plan was proposed to / the Committee it was intended to build / the enclosing wall to V & the alteration at / T.T. became necessary as M^r Collingridge / refused to surrender his premises / but on very exorbitant terms, NB The parts col: Red were / added since this plan was / before the Court: in conseq. / of a suggestion from some / of the members of the impro- / priety of having the Barracks / in the Bank. JS, plan labelled (red pen): Add^l office (twice), Barracks, The / Paved / Court, Officers Serv^t, Lobby, Officer, Bed., Add^l Office, Lobby, Strong / Clos., plan labelled (black pen): Vestibule, Addition to the / Accountants Office / & Library / under, Recess for / Chief Clerk, Drawing Office / in the / Acc^t Depart. / ment, Deputy Acc^t / & his apart / Office, Strong Room, M^r Walton / Ac^t Genl., The / Principal Cashier / Room, Land Tax / Red. Office, Lothbury Court, Interior Office, 3 per Cent Consol, Cashiers Office, Secretary / Office, Secret., Hall Drawing Office / (nothing over), Committee / in / Wait^g / (nothing over), Discount Office, Governors Room, Qy wind., Waiting Room, Dep^y Governor, Porter, Barracks, Corridor, Collonade Court, Waiting Room, Secretary / to / the Com., Doorkeeper, Qy / Door, Court Room, The Committee Room, Water Clos:, Necess., Waiting Room (twice), Officers Room, Garden Court, The / Pay Hall / &c, Paved Court, Entrance (twice), T, T, G, B, P, L, M, K, N, I, H, D, F, E, C, A, B (pencil) L (three times)

• presented Jan: 25 1803, executed Lin: Inn Fields / Dec 1802

Soane office and Soane

This drawing, SM 9/2/13, SM 9/2/10 and SM 9/2/15 concern the design of the southern portion of the north-west extension. This drawing, SM 9/2/10 and SM 9/2/15 were presented to the Building Committee in January 1803. The minutes from the building committee record that one of the drawings, probably SM 9/2/15, was approved on 15 February.

The design sequence begins with SM 9/2/13, showing the basic layout for the offices in the first phase of the north-west wing (ie the offices and corridors south of the new Accountants Office). An entrance from Princes Street is included in the design, leading to a long east-west corridor (as built).

SM 9/2/10, presented 19 January, shows an alternative perimeter for the Screen Wall. Being a presentation drawing, Soane's rough alterations to the drawing were made in response to the Committee's comments and recommendations. The alterations show a larger Accountants Office and the Screen Wall perimeter reduced to its previous form. The Princes Street Screen Wall shows a four-columned portico in the centre.

This drawing and SM 9/2/15 were shown in late January. SM 9/2/15 shows a rudimentary version of the finished buildings, and was referred to on 15 February when the building committee approved Soane's plans. This drawing is a more refined design and includes a wider (from north to south) Waiting Room Court, thereby elongating the adjacent offices.

An amendment to this drawing, in red ink, shows the introduction of the Barracks in the north of the new wing. The inscription suggests that the Barrack's are included upon the directors' advice. Another note in this drawing raises the issue of a tenant by the name of Collingridge who was still occupying his house near the corner of the proposed Screen Wall, thereby delaying construction of the wall (including the future Tivoli Corner).

The proposed designs include plans for the new extension as well as reconfiguring the directors' offices and other parts of the Bank including the Discount Office, Pay Hall and Bullion Court (see separate schemes). In this drawing such alterations are indicated: the stairs are reduced in the Paved Court (also called the Front Court); the Bullion Office is expanded; and the offices north of the Pay Hall are slightly modified.

All four drawings have variant designs for the Lothbury screen wall. SM 9/2/13 and SM 9/2/15 show prostyle pedimented porticos. In SM 9/2/13 the portico has six columns, and in SM 9/2/15 it has only four. SM 9/2/10 has a portico in antis, with four columns framed by pilasters. In the drawing shown here, the frontispiece has been much reduced to a small projection of four pilasters surmounted by a pediment.

Variant designs for the proposed Princes Street front are also shown in this drawing, SM 9/2/10 and SM 9/2/15. SM 9/2/15 shows a round-headed, pedimented entrance. The drawnig show here has a similar design but with a shorter attic and an additional level added in pen.

M. Acres, The Bank of England from within, Oxford, 1931, pp. 387-388
D. Abramson, Money's architecture: the building of the Bank of England, 1731-1833, doctoral thesis for the Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University, 1993, pp. 384-389

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