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Survey of the Speaker's House
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Reference number
SM 37/1/27
Purpose
Survey of the Speaker's House
Aspect
Plan of the House of the Speaker of the House of Commons / about 1803
Scale
bar scale of 1/11 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
as above, labelled: Cloister, Court, Wall of Westminster Hall
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pricked for transfer on laid paper (518 x 364)
Hand
Soane Office
Watermark
fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche and below, LVG
Notes
This drawing shows the upper level of St Stephen's Cloister and the Speaker's House in "about 1803" with Westminster Hall to the west (at the top of the sheet). The Speaker's House was substantially rebuilt for Charles Abbot between 1802-8. The initial intention had been to secure the house from damp, but later developed into a general reconstruction. The alterations, carried out by James Wyatt, were condemned as "wanton and reckless" by Britton and Brayley (op. cit.). J. T. Smith, on the other hand, was generally favourable towards the alterations carried out between 1794 and 1807 (Smith, op. cit.).
Tom Drysdale, October 2014
Tom Drysdale, October 2014
Literature
J. T. Smith, Antiquities of Westminster, 1807, p. 264.
E. Brayley and J. Britton, The Ancient Palace at Westminster, 1836, pp. 455-6.
J. M. Crook and M. H. Port, The History of the King's Works, VI, 1973, p. 533.
E. Brayley and J. Britton, The Ancient Palace at Westminster, 1836, pp. 455-6.
J. M. Crook and M. H. Port, The History of the King's Works, VI, 1973, p. 533.
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