bar scale of 1/8 inch to 1 foot

(upper case) as above, New Street East side of the Building, Gerrard Street, Soho, New Street, West side of the Building, (feint pencil) New Street West side of building

• February or March 1790 (see Notes)

Pencil, pen and wash, within double-ruled and wash border, pricked for transfer on laid paper (709 x 1038)

Soane office

The plan shows the exterior having a colonnade on the front elevation, loggias down both sides, and a row of columns between projecting corners at the back. The entrance lobby is entered through four doors arranged asymmetrically (one has been filled in). The stage is approximately 84 feet deep, including the 8 foot segmental projection in front of the proscenium arch. The design allows for 41 boxes. Some of the boxes come closely to the stage, in keeping with theatre design from the late 18th century. For example, Henry Holland's design for the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, 1794, had boxes in this same position. In later designs for theatres, such as Benjamin Wyatt's Durry Lane theatre of 1810, the separation between audience and scene was more defined.

Pencil alterations to the drawing show the corners at the front elevation projecting in three bays, as in the rear elevation. This alteration corresponds the exterior perspectives and elevations on SM 14/3/1 and SM 14/3/2, with a colonnade between three-bay end ranges.

As stated in an article in the Cambridge Opera Journal, this plan does not correspond exactly with the description of the theatre provided for The Chronicle in January 1790 but is probably a variant design made after the preliminary design, with omissions that would reduce costs. The drawing does not have the 'concert-room, behind the stage, a beautiful oval, 84 by 42' described in the newspaper article. The stage is also smaller than that described by the January article. The drawing, therefore, is a design made after 9 January 1790, probably in February or March 1790, before the project was dropped in late-April. Soane met with O'Reilly on 1 February 1790, spending three hours talking over plans. Subsequently, Soane's entire office was occupied with drawings for the theatre from 15 March 1790 (Journal N^o 1), no doubt in preparation for the hearing on 14 April 1790 (see scheme notes).

C. Price, J. Milhous, R. D. Hume, 'A Royal Opera House in Leicester Square', Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar. 1990), p. 10.

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