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Preliminary design, design, finished drawings and an engraving showing plans and elevations for the building, 1771-72, as executed (5)
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Preliminary design, design, finished drawings and an engraving showing plans and elevations for the building, 1771-72, as executed (5)
Notes
The RSA building was executed in accordance with Adam’s designs and survives in situ. See Royal Society of Arts subscheme notes.
The architectural and stylistic provenance for the various elements of the elevation were discussed at length by Sir John Summerson in his article, ‘The Society’s house: an architectural study’, in 1954.
The engraving of the principal front has been cropped out of a copy of The works in architecture of Robert and James Adam, and has been trimmed and folded to fit into the Adam folios at the Soane Museum.
In 1994 the principal RSA building at number 18 (later number 8) John Street received three figurative roofline sculptures of Manufactures and Commerce, Ceres and Minerva. These sculptures are shown in Adam’s elevation, but in the 1770s there had not been enough money to execute them, so a former vice-president of the RSA, Sebastian de Farranti provided the money two centuries later.
The architectural and stylistic provenance for the various elements of the elevation were discussed at length by Sir John Summerson in his article, ‘The Society’s house: an architectural study’, in 1954.
The engraving of the principal front has been cropped out of a copy of The works in architecture of Robert and James Adam, and has been trimmed and folded to fit into the Adam folios at the Soane Museum.
In 1994 the principal RSA building at number 18 (later number 8) John Street received three figurative roofline sculptures of Manufactures and Commerce, Ceres and Minerva. These sculptures are shown in Adam’s elevation, but in the 1770s there had not been enough money to execute them, so a former vice-president of the RSA, Sebastian de Farranti provided the money two centuries later.
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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
Contents of Preliminary design, design, finished drawings and an engraving showing plans and elevations for the building, 1771-72, as executed (5)
- [140] The engraving of the principal front is cropped out of 'The Works', and has been heavily trimmed, and them folded to fit into the Adam folios, from 1771, as executed
- [141] Design for the building, 1771-72, as executed
- [142] Finished drawing for the building, 1771-72, as executed
- [143] Preliminary design for the principal front, 1771-72, as executed
- [144] Engraving of the principal front, 1771-72, as executed