bar scale of 1/3 inch to 1 foot

(in Soane's hand) Plan of Draw^g Room / Great Room / M^r J Whitmore, leave a / Margin of / two feet wide, This plan shewn to M^r Thornton / & approved, 6 or 9 inches if / possible, 6 or 9 inches, Q^y Bookcases to be / made in Town by / the height of the bookcase / determined by the / height of the door, B (3 times) and some dimensions given

• 3 July 1802
  July 3^d 1802

Pen, sepia and pink washes on laid paper, bound into volume (582 x 687)

Soane Office, with alterations by Soane

Shown in this drawing is Soane's design for the Library - also known as the 'Drawing Room' or the 'Great Room' - at the centre of the house on the ground floor. The room has two entrances on either side of a chimneypiece that has a mirror above. Opposite are three full-height windows providing maximum daylight. The short walls have bookcases with recessed arches containing busts and globes above. Soane has altered the design on one side of the room so that above the centre of the bookcases is an attic feature with incised pilasters, urns and ? lions.

The reference to 'J Whitmore' is interesting. This must be John Whitmore (1750-1826), who sat on the Building Committee of the Bank of England and was its Governor from 1808 to 1810. Soane completed work for Whitmore at 8 Frederick Place, City of London, in 1798-9 totalling £987.5.0, and paid for and organised the funeral of Whitmore's wife in 1806. Possibly the design for the Library was originally made for Whitmore's house in Frederick Place and subsequently re-used and approved by Thornton for his own house, but this seems unlikely.

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