[63-66] Alternative designs for a nine-bay river elevation, one dated 2 August 1794 (4)

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Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
- Office of Works
  - London: Palace of Westminster: designs for alterations and additions, 1793-1828 (499)
    - London: House of Lords, Palace of Westminster: official (mostly domeless) designs, July 1794 - February 1795 (134)

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Reference number

SM (63) 36/4/12 (64) 36/4/10 (65) 36/4/8 (66) 36/4/2

Purpose

[63-66] Alternative designs for a nine-bay river elevation, one dated 2 August 1794 (4)

Aspect

63 A Elevation next the River 64 Elevation to the River 65 Elevation to the River and (verso) a rough feint pencil elevation of nine bays 66 Two elevations to the River

Scale

(63-66) bar scales of 1/10 inch to 1 foot

Inscribed

(63) as above (in pencil) (64) (Soane, pencil) 2 flutes in frieze

Signed and dated

(64) (Soane, pencil) Aug^t 2^d 1794

Medium and dimensions

(63-65) Pen and sepia washes, shaded (64) partly pricked for transfer (63-65) with quadruple-ruled and sepia wash borders on laid paper (284 x 469, 280 x 470, 280 x 467) (66) pen and sepia washes, shaded with triple-ruled border on laid paper (235 x 410)

Hand

(63-65) Frederick Meyer (1775-?, pupil April 1791-1796) (66) Thomas Jeans (c.1775-1866, pupil August 1792 - 25 August 1797)

Watermark

(63) J Whatman (64, 66) fleur-de-lis above cartouche with bar and below, ornate W (65) fleur-de-lis above cartouche with bar and below, GR

Notes

All these designs (except 66 upper elevation) have a nine-bay front (about 125 feet wide) with a rusticated ground floor having four windows and a door. In drawings 63-65 the principal storey consists of: a tall and pedimented window at each end and in the centre; between them three recessed windows fronted by two columns (drawing 65 with four columns). Drawing 63 has a pedimented three-bay attic, drawings 64 and 65 share the same composition of a three-bay attic with a central tablet adorned with a trophy of shield, lances and flags.

Drawing 64 has two elevations that are the same width (122 feet) as the previous drawings. The bottom elevation is of nine bays with a rusticated ground floor, seven bays of the first floor and pedimented attic floor are fronted by a giant Ionic order that supports a pediment with acroteria and two sculpted figures. The elevation at the top of the sheet is of five in antis bays to the ground floor, a three-bay, blind attic storey with arched recesses containing sculpted lion, unicorn and trophy and above this Boudica with quadriga.

A comparison of elevations with plans shows drawings 30 and 31 with a riverside elevation of nine bays and with two pairs of columns corresponds with drawings 63 and 64 while drawings 65 and 66 with a nine-bay elevation and two sets of four columns correspond with plans 14-18, 26 and 27.

S. Sawyer, 'Soane in Westminster', PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999, p. 189, drawings 62-66 and p. 195, drawing 66.

Level

Drawing

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Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.

Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of Concise catalogue records – drawn from an outline list of the collection – and fuller records where drawings have been catalogued in more detail (an ongoing process).