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[19] Design for a new House of Commons, May 1826
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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 (19) 51/6/29
Purpose
[19] Design for a new House of Commons, May 1826
Aspect
19 Plan of Westminster Palace with proposed additions
Scale
bar scale of 1/32 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
labelled: The River Thames (twice), Stables & Coach houses for / the Speaker, Stable Yard, Exchequer and Mr Ley's House, New Palace Yard, Qy [query] Wall or Iron railing, Records, Westminster Hall, The Law Courts, The Speaker's House, New House of Commons, The House of Commons, 30'0", Lobby, Mr Ley, The Long Gallery, The House of Lords and The Painted Chamber
Signed and dated
- Lincolns Inn Fields May 1826
Medium and dimensions
Pen, sepia, blue-green, pink, blue and mauve washes, partly pricked for transfer, with quintuple ruled and sepia wash border on stout wove paper (3 sheets neatly joined) with two fold marks (457 x 832)
Hand
Soane office
Watermark
J Whatman Turkey Mill 1824
Notes
At the top left-hand side of the plan (north-east) the proposed stables, Exchequer and Ley's house are blocked-in with a building labelled 'Records' blocked-in below. At the right-hand side are more detailed plans for a series of about twenty new rooms on the site that until 1801 had included the House of Lords. The proposed new House of Commons, much larger than the old, is sited close to the River Thames on an axis with the old House of Commons and its lobby. The new Commons measures about 100 x 120 feet and has a plan that is rectangular with an extension (Strangers' Gallery?) into the old building. The chamber of the House of Commons has a horseshoe plan with galleries and stairs on three sides.
In his The Palace of Westminster: surveyed on the Eve of the Conflagration 1834 (2011, p.27) M.H.Port describes the physical limitations of the existing Commons Chamber: '[it] measured 61 feet by 32 feet, and could seat some 342, allowing 2 ft per Member, in the body of the House, and a further 54 in four cramped rows under the Strangers' Gallery with another 150 in the Galleries, allowing 18 inches there, or 112 at 2 ft each.' This added up to 546 Members of Parliament out of a total of 658.
In his The Palace of Westminster: surveyed on the Eve of the Conflagration 1834 (2011, p.27) M.H.Port describes the physical limitations of the existing Commons Chamber: '[it] measured 61 feet by 32 feet, and could seat some 342, allowing 2 ft per Member, in the body of the House, and a further 54 in four cramped rows under the Strangers' Gallery with another 150 in the Galleries, allowing 18 inches there, or 112 at 2 ft each.' This added up to 546 Members of Parliament out of a total of 658.
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