• 1790

Soane designed alterations and additions to Mr Tollemache's thatched seaside cottage on the Isle of Wight. His design includes a primitive-style entrance porch and a new attic storey. It is unclear if building works were carried out at Steephill, though ommissions in Soane's papers suggest that his designs were not executed.

In 1781, Tollemache commissioned Soane for minor repairs to his London town house in Picadilly. He later commissioned Soane for work at Coombe House, Kingston upon Thames, and Mottram, Cheshire. On 4 September 1790 Soane journeyed from Cricket Lodge, Somerset (q.v.) to the Isle of Wight so that he could take plans of the cottage. On 1 January 1791 he left at Tollemache's house in Picadilly five drawings showing proposed alterations to Steephill (Journal N^o 1).

Wilbraham Tollemache purchased Steephill in 1781 (R. Worsely,p. 221). The house is described in contemporary accounts as a thatched roof cottage faced in stucco, with a bowed projection on one side and a view of the sea (J. Albin, p. 560). The house was rebuilt by Sanderson c. 1828 and then demolished in 1964 (P. Dean, p. 182).

J. Albin, A new, correct, and much improved history of the Isle of Wight, 1795, p. 560; R. Worsley, A history of the Isle of Wight, 1781, p.221; P. Dean, John Soane and the Country Estate, 1999, p. 182).

Madeleine Helmer, 2012

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