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[1] Survey plan of the House of Lords and Painted Chamber with amendments, 25 January 1793
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Reference number
SM (1) 37/1/13
Purpose
[1] Survey plan of the House of Lords and Painted Chamber with amendments, 25 January 1793
Aspect
1 Plan of the House of Lords as intended
Scale
bar scale of 1¾ inches to 10 feet
Inscribed
as above, labelled Painted Chamber / 26ft:0in by 80ft:3in, Lobby / 11':0'' by 24':6'', Waiting Room / 10':3'' by 23'.0'', House of Lords / 70':0'' by 26':7''and Passage (twice)
Signed and dated
- Copy Great Scotland Yard January 25th 1793 (Soane's office was in Great Scotland Yard from April 1791 until January 1794 when it was moved to 12 Lincolns Inn Fields)
Medium and dimensions
Pen and sepia wash, pricked for transfer on thin wove paper (349 x 567)
Hand
Soane office
Notes
Sawyer (op.cit, p.134) comments of this (officially requested) plan that 'Soane had been asked to make substantial improvements to circulation between the Lords Chamber and the Painted Chamber by nearly doubling the size of the lobby and making two additional openings in the Painted Chamber'. Soane had been Clerk of the Works for St James's, Whitehall and Westminster since 1791 and this small job, though not carried out, was a sign of an increasing interest by the establishment in doing something about the fabric of Parliament.
In August 1793 Soane was asked to supply survey plans of the Palace of Westminster to a dozen architects who had been invited to make designs for the reconstruction of the House of Lords; the invitation did not include Soane. Soane resigned as Clerk of Works in February 1794. In a meeting of the House of Lords Committee of 30 June 1794, Soane was asked to make designs for a new House of Lords. The terms were: 'Mr Soane be directed to turn his attention during the course of the summer to what alterations can be made to render the House of Lords, and the rooms and offices appertaining thereto, more commodious, consistent with the general plan of the adjacent buildings' (quoted by Sawyer, op.cit. p. 148).
Soane's designs made between July 1794 and February 1795 are all drawn over a survey plan that includes, for example, the House of Commons (5-29) or part of the House of Commons (30-35) and presumably relate to the survey plans made in 1793.
Literature. S. Sawyer, Soane at Westminster, PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999
In August 1793 Soane was asked to supply survey plans of the Palace of Westminster to a dozen architects who had been invited to make designs for the reconstruction of the House of Lords; the invitation did not include Soane. Soane resigned as Clerk of Works in February 1794. In a meeting of the House of Lords Committee of 30 June 1794, Soane was asked to make designs for a new House of Lords. The terms were: 'Mr Soane be directed to turn his attention during the course of the summer to what alterations can be made to render the House of Lords, and the rooms and offices appertaining thereto, more commodious, consistent with the general plan of the adjacent buildings' (quoted by Sawyer, op.cit. p. 148).
Soane's designs made between July 1794 and February 1795 are all drawn over a survey plan that includes, for example, the House of Commons (5-29) or part of the House of Commons (30-35) and presumably relate to the survey plans made in 1793.
Literature. S. Sawyer, Soane at Westminster, PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999
Literature
S.Sawyer, 'Soane at Westminster', PhD thesis, Columbia University,1999, pp. 134-5
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