[9] Variant design for the new Infirmary, facing the Thames, April 1809

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Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
- Public buildings
  - London: Royal Hospital, Chelsea for the Board of Commissioners, 1807-1835 (226)
    - Site for the new Infirmary, December 1808 - August 1809 (17)

Drawing. SM volume 77/25. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Hugh Kelly

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Reference number

SM volume 77/25

Purpose

[9] Variant design for the new Infirmary, facing the Thames, April 1809

Aspect

Block plan of the west side of Chelsea Hospital with a block plan for an Infirmary of three long buildings surrounding a court on three sides

Scale

bar scale

Inscribed

as above, labelled NB. This drawing is a copy of the design / made by me the beginning of Feb^yimmediately / after receiving as Imagined the directions / of the Board from D. Dundas to prepare / a Plan for converting part of the Premises / lately occupied by Lord Yarborough into / an Infirmary, A. Physician / Surgery / apothecary / & / Matron / Whitster to be removed to B / C. This wall shews the line I asked for / on the 12^th: of March last which was / refused:- had it been acceded, I should / then have proposed to the Board of / Commissioners to build a new Infirmary D / E. nB. This low building is not included / in the grant to Col[one]^': Gordon altho' it / made a part of the Premises, lately / occupied by Lord Yarborough, River Thames, sum[mer] / house, Pleasure Ground, Creek, Public or Hospital Garden, Canal, House, office court, wall six feet high, Cowie Gard[ener] / to Sir D Dundas, Old / Infirm[ar]^y:, arcade, Infirmary Court, Cleans[in]^g: Ground, Drying Ground (twice), Carriage Way, Great West / quadrangle of / Hospital, Public / Washouse, Surgeons / House, Bakehouse, airing Ground, Late L[or]^d: Yarboro[ugh], Coal / Yard, Stable / Yard, Board / Room, Part of Burtons Court, Road to / the Kings / Road, Paradise Row and Road from Paradise Row to Col[one]^l: Gordons Premises

Signed and dated

John Soane, architect / April. 1809 (see Notes)

Hand

Soane office and Soane

Notes

Soane submitted a report to the Board on 12 April describing the problems associated with converting Yarborough House as it existed into a new Infirmary. Originals of the plans Soane included had been made earlier that year, around February (as per this drawing and SM volume 78/31 inscription). The plan shown in SM volume 78/30 and SM volume 77/24, labelled 'Plan B' Soane described as follows: 'with all its appurtenances, entirely detached, and of course less exposed to fire'. Plan 'B' included an arcade for exercise during bad weather, an airing ground in front and the river separated only by an iron railing.

This drawing and SM volume 78/31, labelled 'Plan C', show a compromise plan 'on the supposition that all the ground cannot be had'. This shows detached wings on three sides, set far enough back to allow for Colonel Gordon's proposed villa.

Literature

Papers, presented to the House of Commons, relating to the Building of a New Infirmary, and the Leasing of Ground at Chelsea Hospital (ordered by the House of Commons) to be Printed, 20^th April 1809

Level

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.

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