In March 1733 it was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine that 'The Earl of Burlington has projected a Plan for building two new Houses of Parliament, and a Public Library between them, to be finish'd against the next Session, and to cost the Public about £30,000.' The associated surviving designs show a Palladian building with a colonnade (40 feet high) and a Pantheon-like dome sitting behind a pediment (drawing [1]). In plan the building began as a rectangle (drawing [2]) before developing into more of a square shape (drawings [3-4]), and contained three primary rooms on the piano nobile - the Houses of Lords and Commons and the Cottonian Library. The Cottonian Library consisted of the books, records and manuscripts collected by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631) and passed to the nation by his grandson, Sir John Cotton, in 1702. This catalogue includes the only two known designs for the interior of the library (drawings [8-9]). For unknown reasons the 'Pantheon' scheme did not progress.

Drawings [1] and [6-9] are to be found within a bound volume purchased by Arthur Bolton, the Curator of the Soane Museum, from a member of the Society of Antiquaries for £1.0.0 on 17 October 1930. The volume includes a note in Kent's hand that reads:

'Estimate on the Area or Ground / Plan of the Cottonion (sic) Library and / the records &c adjoyning extending / in Front to the River 210 feet in / depth 90 feet according to my Design / 197 sq^r on y^e Area being ab^t 90 feet in / hight (sic) including y^e composite portico / the whole front the pillars 40 feet high / with the inside fineshing (sic) & embellisments (sic) / taken at ab^t £300 p^r sq^r // £59100'.

(Salmon, pp. 329-337)

Sub-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