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[1-3] Preliminary unfinished alternative designs by Soane, one dated 24 July 1794 (3)
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Reference number
SM (1) 16/4/22 (2) 16/4/24 (3) 16/4/21
Purpose
[1-3] Preliminary unfinished alternative designs by Soane, one dated 24 July 1794 (3)
Aspect
1 Plan of ground floor with two rough pencil elevations and two part-plans
2 Plan of ground floor with extensions mostly southwards
3 Plan of ground floor with rough domed elevation and part-plans
Scale
(1-3) bar scales of 1/10 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
(1) No 2, labelled: Bishops, Archbishops, Anti Room, Doorkeeper, Lord Chancellor, Kings Robing Room, Doorkeeper, Anti Room, Coals / & / Wood, House of Lords, Corridor, Mr Rose, Anti Room, Mr Cowper, Gentleman / Ushers, Lobby, Doorkeeper, Black Rod, Wood & Coals, The Kings Entrance, Painted Chamber, Corridor, Privy Seal, Lord Gt Chamber[lain], Earl Marshall, Committee / Room, Hall, Vestibule and Lords Entrance
(2) No 3, Doorkeeper / 1, Bishops / 2, Archbishops / 3, Ld Chancellor / 4, Anti Room / 5, Mr Rose / 6, Mr Cowper / 7, Mr Cowper / 8, Committee / Room / 9, Witnesses / 10, Privy Seal / 11, Lord Gt / Chamberlain / 12, Court, Staircase, Princes / Room / 13, Kings Robing / Room / 14, Anti Room / 15, House of / Lords, Committee / Room / 16, Witnesses / 17, doorkeeper / 18, (pencil) R--- R illegible / 20, Black Rod / 21, (pencil) doorkeeper (twice), Hall and Entrance / for / His Majesty
(3) Closet, Court, Arcade below, Gallery round this / Passage, Wood (twice), Coals, (pencil) Anti Room, Robing Room, doorkeeper, entrance and ? Regent
Signed and dated
- (3) July 24 1794
Medium and dimensions
(1) Pen, pencil, sepia and pink washes, partly pricked for transfer on thin laid paper (757 x 556) (2) pencil, pen and sepia wash, partly pricked for transfer on thin laid paper (795 x 552) (3) pencil and pen, partly pricked for transfer on thin laid paper (708 x 559)
Hand
(1-3) Soane and Soane office hand for the survey parts
Notes
Drawing 1 has the King's Entrance (later called the 'Scala Regia') placed on the south side, re-using the old House of Lords and the Prince's Chamber. The new House of Lords lies to the east towards the river and is contiguous with the Painted Chamber that reaches into part of the Court of Requests to make a ? domed vestibule and Lords entrance on the west or Old Palace Yard side of the building.
Drawing 2 has cancellations and amendments made by Soane and seems generally unresolved. The House of Lords now occupies the Painted Chamber while the old House of Lords contains the King's Robing Room and an anteroom. The King's Entrance and the Lords' Entrance are next to each other on the west side.
Drawing 3 is closer to drawing 2 than to drawing 1. But here, the Court of Requests is re-modelled with an apsidal screen and two domes, and to the south an entrance with a quarter-circle stair on each side. Drawing 1 relates, in some aspects, to the scheme that follows while drawings 2 and 3, on the whole, seem unrelated to further drawings.
On each drawing, the unfinished pencil plan to the left is a survey drawing that includes the House of Commons and part of Westminster Hall.
S. Sawyer, 'Soane at Westminster'. PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999, pp. 162-3 puts drawing 1 (with 6 and 8) as scheme 'A1' in Soane's sequence of designs for the House of Lords. Sawyer (pp. 166-7) also writes that drawing 2 (with 10 and 28) is attributed to scheme 'B' while (pp. 165-6) drawing 3 (with 12, 13 and 22) comprises scheme 'C'.
Drawing 2 has cancellations and amendments made by Soane and seems generally unresolved. The House of Lords now occupies the Painted Chamber while the old House of Lords contains the King's Robing Room and an anteroom. The King's Entrance and the Lords' Entrance are next to each other on the west side.
Drawing 3 is closer to drawing 2 than to drawing 1. But here, the Court of Requests is re-modelled with an apsidal screen and two domes, and to the south an entrance with a quarter-circle stair on each side. Drawing 1 relates, in some aspects, to the scheme that follows while drawings 2 and 3, on the whole, seem unrelated to further drawings.
On each drawing, the unfinished pencil plan to the left is a survey drawing that includes the House of Commons and part of Westminster Hall.
S. Sawyer, 'Soane at Westminster'. PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999, pp. 162-3 puts drawing 1 (with 6 and 8) as scheme 'A1' in Soane's sequence of designs for the House of Lords. Sawyer (pp. 166-7) also writes that drawing 2 (with 10 and 28) is attributed to scheme 'B' while (pp. 165-6) drawing 3 (with 12, 13 and 22) comprises scheme 'C'.
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