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Variant designs for front elevations, neither as executed, 30 December 1789 (2)
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Reference number
SM (4) 2/6/4 (5) 2/6/5
Purpose
Variant designs for front elevations, neither as executed, 30 December 1789 (2)
Aspect
4-5 Elevation Next The Road / No I and Elevation Next The Road / No II
Scale
4-5 bar scale of approximately ¼ inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
4 as above, W.B.Simonds Esqr NB. This Elevation will suit either of the Plans (see Notes)
5 as above and W.B.Simonds Esqr
Signed and dated
- 4 Copy December 30th 1789
5 Copy Decr 30th 1789
Medium and dimensions
4-5 Pen, black, light grey and light blue washes, shaded, on laid paper (446 x 590)
Hand
4-5 John McDonnell (pupil 1786-1791)
Watermark
4-5 J Whatman, fleur-de-lis on cartouche with bar, and ornate W below
Notes
Both designs are for a house three bays wide and of two storeys with an attic over a raised basement and with service entrances on either side. Design I is astylar while design II has four pilasters with an invented leafy Ionic capital. Both designs have three-part Wyatt windows, design II in a 'stripped' version of design I with its mouldings and a wreath over the door.
Soane borrowed from his initial design for the front elevation of Saxlingham Rectory, Norfolk, 1784 (q.v.) for the composition and window details of design II (and see also note to drawing 3).
The accompanying plans have not survived but there are survey plans and an elevation made 13 years later (drawings 6-10). See drawing 3 for a perspective close to drawing 2 except that a) the service entrances have gone (b) the eaves cornice has migrated to below the attic windows and (c) the order is now a conventional Ionic. A circa 1900 photograph (SM Information Files) of the three-bay house heavily clad with wisteria and ivy shows it in use as an office. Built of brick with Ionic pilasters and a cornice with T-shaped toothing below the attic. There is also a wreath above the door that is probably the tablet with carving of hops and hop leaves ordered from Foxhall in 1791.
Soane's office 'Ledger B' has an entry for 27 February 1792 that records payments for slates, white bricks, stone, Sealy for artificial stone and composition ornaments, as well as Foxhall and Hall for paper-hanging suggesting that the house was built and finished by that date. Two patterns of paper bordered with hops were sent by post in 1791
Soane borrowed from his initial design for the front elevation of Saxlingham Rectory, Norfolk, 1784 (q.v.) for the composition and window details of design II (and see also note to drawing 3).
The accompanying plans have not survived but there are survey plans and an elevation made 13 years later (drawings 6-10). See drawing 3 for a perspective close to drawing 2 except that a) the service entrances have gone (b) the eaves cornice has migrated to below the attic windows and (c) the order is now a conventional Ionic. A circa 1900 photograph (SM Information Files) of the three-bay house heavily clad with wisteria and ivy shows it in use as an office. Built of brick with Ionic pilasters and a cornice with T-shaped toothing below the attic. There is also a wreath above the door that is probably the tablet with carving of hops and hop leaves ordered from Foxhall in 1791.
Soane's office 'Ledger B' has an entry for 27 February 1792 that records payments for slates, white bricks, stone, Sealy for artificial stone and composition ornaments, as well as Foxhall and Hall for paper-hanging suggesting that the house was built and finished by that date. Two patterns of paper bordered with hops were sent by post in 1791
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