John Soane

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Sir John Soane

painted by Thomas Lawrence
Born 10 September 1753(1753-09-10)
Goring-on-Thames
Died 20 January 1837(1837-01-20)
London
Nationality English
Work
Buildings Bank of England

Sir John Soane, RA (10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources. The influence of his work, coming at the end of the Georgian era, was swamped by the revival styles of the 19th century. It was not until the late 19th century that the influence of Sir John's architecture was widely felt. His best-known work was the Bank of England, a building which had widespread effect on commercial architecture.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Background and training

Soane was born in Goring-on-Thames on the 10 September 1753[1] he was the second surviving son of John Soan (the 'e' was added by the architect to the name in 1784 on his marriage) and his wife Martha[2]. His father was a builder or bricklayer[3], his father dying when Soane was fourteen in April 1768[4]. He was educated in nearby Reading in a private school run by William Baker[5]. After his father's death the family moved to nearby Chertsey to live with Soane's elder brother William (he was born 12 years before Soane), also a bricklayer[6].

His brother introduced Soane to James Peacock a surveyor who worked with George Dance the Younger[7]. Soane began his training as an architect under George Dance the Younger at age 15[8], he joined the architect at his home and office in the City of London at the corner of Moorfields and Chiswell Street[9]. Dance was a founder member of the Royal Academy and doubtless encouraged Soane to join the schools (they were free) there in October 1771 [10], there he would have attended the architecture lectures delivered by Thomas Sandby[11]. Dance's growing family was probably the reason that in 1772 Soane continued his education by joining Henry Holland[12]. During his studies at the Royal Academy, he was awarded the Academy's silver medal on 10 December 1772[13], and the gold medal 1776 for his design of a Triumphal Bridge[14], and finally a travelling scholarship in December 1777[15]. In 1778 he published his first book Designs in Architecture[16]. Using his travelling scholarship he set sail for his Grand Tour, his ultimate destination being Rome at 5:00 a.m. 18 March 1778[17].

Statue of Sir John Soane at the Bank of England, London

His travelling companion was Robert Furze Brettingham[18], they travelled via Paris, where they visited Jean-Rodolphe Perronet[19], they went onto the Palace of Versailles on the 29 March[20]. They finally reached Rome on 2 May 1759[21]. When in Rome, Soane travelled around with his old classmate, the architect Thomas Hardwick, and also met the builder and Bishop of Derry, Frederick Augustus Hervey, whom he accompanied to Ireland. However, he failed to find work there, so returned to England in 1780 and settled in East Anglia where he established a small architectural practice.

[edit] Independent career

In 1788, he succeeded Sir Robert Taylor as architect and surveyor to the Bank of England, the exterior of the Bank being his most famous work. Sir Herbert Baker's rebuilding of the Bank, demolishing most of Soane's earlier building was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century". The Bank job, and especially the personal contacts arising from it, increased the success of Soane's practice, and he became Associate Royal Academician (ARA) in 1795, then full Royal Academician (RA) in 1802. He was made Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806,[22] a post which he held until his death. Together with John Nash and Robert Smirke, he became an official architect to the Office of Works in 1813. Then, in 1814, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Board of Works, where he remained until his retirement in 1832. In November 1821 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society [23] In 1831, Soane received a knighthood.

Soane was commissioned by the Bank of Ireland to design a new headquarters for the triangular site on Westmoreland Street now occupied by the Westin Hotel. However, when the Irish Parliament was abolished in 1800, the Bank abandoned the project and instead bought the former Parliament Buildings.

During his time in London, Soane ran a lucrative architectural practice, remodelling and designing country homes for the landed gentry. Among Soane's most notable works are the dining rooms of both numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street for the Prime Minister and Chancellor of Britain, the Dulwich Picture Gallery which is the archetype for most modern art galleries, and his country home at Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing.

Sir John Soane's tomb in the Old St Pancras churchyard

Soane died, a widower and estranged from his surviving son (whom he felt had betrayed him, contributing to his own mother's death), in London in 1837. He is buried in a vault of his own design in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church. The design of the vault was a direct influence on Giles Gilbert Scott's design for the red telephone box.

[edit] Sir John Soane's Museum

Soane Museum

In 1792, Soane bought a house at 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. He used the house as his home and library, but also entertained potential clients in the drawing room. It is now Sir John Soane's Museum and is open to the public.

Between 1794 and 1824, Soane remodelled and extended the house into two neighbouring properties — partly to experiment with architectural ideas, and partly to house his growing collection of antiquities and architectural salvage. As his practice prospered, Soane was able to collect objects worthy of the British Museum, including the sarcophagus of Seti I, Roman bronzes from Pompeii, several Canalettos and a collection of paintings by Hogarth. In 1833, he obtained an Act of Parliament to bequeath the house and collection to the British Nation to be made into a museum of architecture, now the Sir John Soane's Museum.

[edit] Dulwich Picture Gallery

Main article: Dulwich Picture Gallery

In 1811, Soane was appointed to architect the first purpose-built public art gallery - to house the Dulwich collection, which had been held by art dealers Sir Francis Bourgeois and his partner Noel Desenfans. Bourgeois's will stipulated that the Gallery should be built by his friend John Soane to house the collection. The Dulwich Picture Gallery was completed in 1817, and it has influenced the design of art galleries ever since.

[edit] Selected list of architectural works

  • Holy Trinity Church Marylebone

  • St Peter's Walworth, south side

  • St Peter's Walworth, interior looking east

  • St John Bethnal Green

  • Pitzhanger Manor

  • Dulwich Picture Gallery

  • Dulwich Picture Gallery Interior

  • Bank of England Entrance Facade

  • Bank of England 'Tivoli Corner'

  • Bank of England Rotunda

  • Piercefield House

  • Design for new Royal Palace on the site of Green Park London

[edit] References

  1. ^ Page 4, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  2. ^ Page 1, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  3. ^ Page 1, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  4. ^ Page 4, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  5. ^ Page 4, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  6. ^ Page 6, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  7. ^ Page 6, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  8. ^ Page 7, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  9. ^ Page 7, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  10. ^ Page 11, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  11. ^ Page 11, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  12. ^ Page 12, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  13. ^ Page 15, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  14. ^ Page 16, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  15. ^ Page 16, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  16. ^ Page 17, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  17. ^ Page 21, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  18. ^ Page 21, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  19. ^ Page 23, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  20. ^ Page 24, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  21. ^ Page 24, John Soane An Accidental Romantic, Gillian Darley, 1999, Yale University Press I.S.B.N. 0-300-08165-0
  22. ^ Spartacus schoolnet
  23. ^ "Library and Archive". Royal Society. http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27soane%27%29. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 

[edit] External links

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