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[11] Designs for completing the hospital in 1728-29
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Designs for completing the hospital in 1728-29
Purpose
[11] Designs for completing the hospital in 1728-29
Signed and dated
- 1728
Main Year - 1729
Other Years
Notes
A new Commission for 'carrying on and completing the Royal Hospital at Greenwich' met in December 1727 , following the accession of George II. A general audit of the accounts up to September 1727 was prepared and an estimate was submitted for finishing the hospital. The costs amounted to £131,75; see [11/10], and Bold 2000, p. 156. The Surveyor from 1726-29 was Colen Campbell; Hawksmoor continued as Clerk of Works, assisted by John James.
The general audit in 1727-28 is the context for a set of four floor plans of King Charles Court marked with cabin enclosures in the hand of an office draughtsman; [11/5-8]. These were based on drawings by Hawksmoor. Some are at the Soane; [11/3 and 4]. Another set is at the National Maritime Museum; see Wren Society, VI, pl. 19, top. A further aspect of the completion of the final scheme was the fitting out of the south pavilion of Queen Anne's Building in 1729. The drawing for this, [11/11], is the latest dated example by Hawksmoor for Greenwich Hospital.
In 1728 Hawksmoor prepared two master plans for completing the hospital on a symmetrical plan, with infirmary and offices courtyards on the west side of the site (RIBA Library Drawings Collection, SA 70/6, former E5/11, Bold 2000, fig.144; and SA 70/4, former E5/9, Hart 2002, fig. 302). He distilled his ideas in an annotated engraved plan published as an illustration to his Remarks on the Founding and Carrying on of the Buildings of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich (London, 1728; Wren Society, VI, pl. 15, top). His revised enlargement scheme was prompted by the expectation of new funding, following the establishment of the new commission. The engraved plan of 1728 was based upon an earlier master plan of 1723, now in the Wiltshire Record Office at Trowbridge (redrawn in Downes 1979, fig. 11). In the engraved version of the plan a Via Regia is aligned with the recently completed St Alfege Church (1711-18). The two site plans at [11/1] (dated 1728) and [11/2] are preparatory for the engraved plan.
A new element in Hawksmoor's final enlargement scheme is a detailed design for the infirmary at the west end of the main cross-axis, close to the site of the present-day Dreadnought Hospital building; [11/12]. The infirmary in the engraved plan of 1728 is an open-courtyard building, facing east. Its courtyard has an inner semicircle of ground which is part of a Planities communis, or esplanade, between the infirmary and a new west gate to the hospital, opposite the portico of the West Dormitory. This plan is the starting point for Hawksmoor's scheme in [11/12]. This is an enlarged five-block development with the infirmary at its centre. At the next stage in the design, [11/13], the side wings of the infirmary are doubled in width to incorporate a doctors' pavilion.
The general audit in 1727-28 is the context for a set of four floor plans of King Charles Court marked with cabin enclosures in the hand of an office draughtsman; [11/5-8]. These were based on drawings by Hawksmoor. Some are at the Soane; [11/3 and 4]. Another set is at the National Maritime Museum; see Wren Society, VI, pl. 19, top. A further aspect of the completion of the final scheme was the fitting out of the south pavilion of Queen Anne's Building in 1729. The drawing for this, [11/11], is the latest dated example by Hawksmoor for Greenwich Hospital.
In 1728 Hawksmoor prepared two master plans for completing the hospital on a symmetrical plan, with infirmary and offices courtyards on the west side of the site (RIBA Library Drawings Collection, SA 70/6, former E5/11, Bold 2000, fig.144; and SA 70/4, former E5/9, Hart 2002, fig. 302). He distilled his ideas in an annotated engraved plan published as an illustration to his Remarks on the Founding and Carrying on of the Buildings of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich (London, 1728; Wren Society, VI, pl. 15, top). His revised enlargement scheme was prompted by the expectation of new funding, following the establishment of the new commission. The engraved plan of 1728 was based upon an earlier master plan of 1723, now in the Wiltshire Record Office at Trowbridge (redrawn in Downes 1979, fig. 11). In the engraved version of the plan a Via Regia is aligned with the recently completed St Alfege Church (1711-18). The two site plans at [11/1] (dated 1728) and [11/2] are preparatory for the engraved plan.
A new element in Hawksmoor's final enlargement scheme is a detailed design for the infirmary at the west end of the main cross-axis, close to the site of the present-day Dreadnought Hospital building; [11/12]. The infirmary in the engraved plan of 1728 is an open-courtyard building, facing east. Its courtyard has an inner semicircle of ground which is part of a Planities communis, or esplanade, between the infirmary and a new west gate to the hospital, opposite the portico of the West Dormitory. This plan is the starting point for Hawksmoor's scheme in [11/12]. This is an enlarged five-block development with the infirmary at its centre. At the next stage in the design, [11/13], the side wings of the infirmary are doubled in width to incorporate a doctors' pavilion.
Level
Sub-scheme
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
Contents of [11] Designs for completing the hospital in 1728-29
- [11/1] Block plan, entitled, A Plan of the Buildings and and foundations of Greenwich Hospital, as they are now carrying on [...] Anno 1728, and showing the hospital in the context of Greenwich, the River Thames, The Queen's House, and the northern end of the Park
- [11/2] Draft block plan of the Greenwich Hospital Buildings and site, c.1728, showing proposals for alterations to the roads and approaches around the Hospital which include a more southerly position for the Romney Road
- [11/3] Plan of the basement of King Charles II Court, c.1728, showing existing fabric and proposed alterations
- [11/4] Survey plan, datable c.1728, illustrating the existing ground-floor plan of the King Charles II Court
- [11/5] Survey plan of basement of King Charles II Court, c.1728
- [11/6] Plan of King Charles II Court at ground-floor level, datable 1727-28, showing the proposed layout for the 'cabins', and incorporating amendments to the layout of the rooms in the Base Wing
- [11/7] Plan of the second (Mezzanine) floor of King Charles II Court, illustrating the layout of cabins.
- [11/8] Plan of the first (Second) floor of King Charles II Court, illustrating the layout of cabins
- [11/9] Schedule dated November 1728 of the numbers of men occupying the Royal Hospital and an estimate of how many men it will contain when finished, according to a plan then being prepared
- [11/10] Manuscript abstract of expenditure on Greenwich Hospital from the start of work to 30 September 1727, and estimate of the costs of completing Greenwich Hospital on the present plan
- [11/11] Working drawing for the completion of the south pavilion of the Queen Anne Building, 1729
- [11/12] Finished design for an infirmary, together with a two large, symmetrically planned buildings on the south side (the western one possibly a Market House), and two further ancillary buildings on the north side, c.1728
- [11/13] Preliminary design for the elevation of a proposed doctors' pavilion in the infirmary, datable c.1727-28.