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[1] Survey drawing of the House of Commons and adjoining buildings, 1794
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- Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
Reference number
SM (1) 51/6/19
Purpose
[1] Survey drawing of the House of Commons and adjoining buildings, 1794
Aspect
1 Elevation of the east (River Thames) front as modified by Wren and outline plan
Scale
bar scale of 1 and 1/10 inch to 10 feet
Inscribed
The King, labelled: The Clerk of the House of Commons, The House of Commons, The Speaker of the House of Commons and running dimensions given
Signed and dated
- Octr 7th 1794
Medium and dimensions
Pen, brown pen, sepia and pink washes, shaded on thin laid paper with one fold mark (538 x 692)
Hand
unidentified - Office of Works 1794
Notes
This survey drawing of 1794 shows the House of Commons in the converted 14th century Chapel of St Stephen that had been its home since 1547. The front with 'Wren's round-arched windows' was altered by Wyatt in 1805-6 and 'given a spurious fourteenth-century finish with Gothic tracery tricked out in brick and stucco' (King's Works, VI, p.526)
Left and right are the houses of the Clerk and the Speaker of the House of Commons and a plan gives the outline of this group of attached but unaligned buildings. A comparison with a plan of Westminster Palace of 1793 (published in Kings Works, VI, fig.19) shows that this survey drawing corresponds except that the Speaker's large house with a three-storey projecting bay is labelled 'Auditor of Exchequer' on the 1793 plan.
Left and right are the houses of the Clerk and the Speaker of the House of Commons and a plan gives the outline of this group of attached but unaligned buildings. A comparison with a plan of Westminster Palace of 1793 (published in Kings Works, VI, fig.19) shows that this survey drawing corresponds except that the Speaker's large house with a three-storey projecting bay is labelled 'Auditor of Exchequer' on the 1793 plan.
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