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Design for the Scala Regia, 28 August 1822
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Reference number
SM 71/2/50
Purpose
Design for the Scala Regia, 28 August 1822
Aspect
Section through the Centre of Niches; (verso) plan of the foundations the Scala Regia
Scale
bar scale of 1¼ inches to 1 foot; (verso) bar scale of 1/2 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
as above, labelled: House of Lords, Stone and dimensions given; (verso, pencil) 6 Steps - Six Steps - 6 Steps, Centre of / Staircase and dimensions given
Signed and dated
- 28 August 1822
28th August 1822; (verso) 23rd August / 1822
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pink, sepia, yellow ochre and burnt Sienna washes, (verso: pen, pink and sepia washes) pricked for transfer on wove paper (743 x 520)
Hand
Soane Office
Watermark
Smith & Allnutt 1817
Notes
This section shows the coffering of the barrel vault over the third bay of the staircase. The width of the Scala Regia is 9' 9''. On the verso is a plan of the foundations. Sawyer writes: 'errors in his [Soane's] pupils' survey work... required completely redesigning the foundations. The surveys had overestimated the distance between the Prince's Chamber and Wyatt's vestibule by about a foot and a half. This meant that - if the new stairway was to be aligned with Wyatt's work - the south wall of Vardy's structure would have to be entirely cut away, as shown in the subsequent foundation plan [SM 71/2/50v]' (S. Sawyer, Soane at Westminster, PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999, pp. 404-5). There is also, on the verso of a drawing for the Westminster Law Courts, a fragmentary plan of the foundations, dated 9 August 1822 (SM 37/3/1v).
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