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Preliminary designs, 1790 (2)
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Reference number
SM (4) 33/1/2 (5) 33/1/3
Purpose
Preliminary designs, 1790 (2)
Aspect
4 Ground floor Plan of the Old Houses forming the Site of / Buckingham House in Pallmall
5 First floor plan
Scale
(4) bar scale of 1/9 inch to 1 foot (5) to a scale of 1/9 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
4 as above, The Marquiss of Buckingham and some dimensions given
5 The Marquiss of Buckingham, Pallmall
Signed and dated
- (4-5) 1790
Medium and dimensions
(4-5) Pencil, pen and pink, grey and yellow washes on laid paper (361 x 525, 361 x 525)
Hand
(4-5) Soane and Soane office, and titles added later by George Bailey (Soane Museum curator, 1837-60)
Watermark
(4) J Whatman (5) fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche and ornate W below
Notes
Drawings 4 and 5 show an initial design for alterations to the houses fronting Pall Mall. The house has a seven-bay symmetrical street front. The west house is shown completely rebuilt, except for the original offices in the rear courtyard (shown in pencil on drawing 4). The east building, in pink wash on the left-hand side of the sheet, is largely retained, with partitions introduced and the principal staircase removed. Drawings 4 and 5 appear to be unbuilt designs by Robert Furze Brettingham (c.1750-1820), architect to 91 Pall Mall in 1785 and 86 (H. Colvin).
The proposed west building has two principal rooms on the ground floor. The back room has a tripartite window (probably intended as a Venetian window) overlooking a courtyard with piers decoratively arranged in a semicircle. In rough pen, Soane has added a staircase to a vestibule at the centre of the building.
As the first floor plan (drawing 5) reveals, the preliminary design does not do well to accomodate the difference in floor levels between the two buildings. Quarter-staircases lead from one house to the other, suggesting that the floor levels vary by a few feet.
The proposed west building has two principal rooms on the ground floor. The back room has a tripartite window (probably intended as a Venetian window) overlooking a courtyard with piers decoratively arranged in a semicircle. In rough pen, Soane has added a staircase to a vestibule at the centre of the building.
As the first floor plan (drawing 5) reveals, the preliminary design does not do well to accomodate the difference in floor levels between the two buildings. Quarter-staircases lead from one house to the other, suggesting that the floor levels vary by a few feet.
Literature
Survey of London, vol.s XXIX and XXX, 1960, pp. 360-363; H. Colvin, Biographical dictionary of British architects 1600-1840, 4th ed., 2008
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