Discover an Architect’s Treasure Trove

Sir John Soane’s Drawing Office

In his Drawing Office, English architect Sir John Soane surrounded himself with architectural plaster casts taken from great ancient buildings. Each cast inspired his work and that of his draftsmen and pupils. Gareth Gardener

From bricklayer’s son to eminent 18th-century architect, Sir John Soane cemented his legacy by fastidiously studying works of his architectural forefathers. The Englishman’s most notable works are both in London: the world’s first purpose-built art gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and the Bank of England building, which took 45 years to complete.

As professor of architecture at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Soane passed his passion for architecture on to future generations. In his inaugural lecture, he emphasized the importance of studying ancient architecture: “Let us therefore profit from the labors and zeal of those who have endeavored to preserve and make us acquainted with the precious fragments of antiquity; let us tread in their paths; let us from their labors endeavor to discover the principles that directed the great artists of antiquity; and when we have no remains of their splendid and glorious works to direct our studies, and to animate our minds to exertion, let us consult the poets, historians, and orators, wrecks of whose works have happily reached us.”

Soane practiced what he preached. He filled his home and his Drawing Office with Greek and Roman classics, poetry, painting, sculpture, history, music, and architecture. He knew that by immersing himself in the arts, he could hone his architectural skills and inspire his draftsmen and pupils too.

Soane bequeathed his home and office to the nation with the express wish that it be left as it was when he died, and that entry be free, to inspire and educate everyone.

Architect Sir John Soane avidly collected fine art. Corinthian-style columns in Soane’s Drawing Office lead to the Picture Room that he designed for his art collection. He owned many great artworks, including works by Italian painter Giovanni Antonio Canal (commonly called Canaletto) and classical archaeologist, architect, and artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Gareth Gardener

The Sir John Soane Museum in London is an architectural treasure trove. For the first time in its history, the museum is offering visitors a tour of the architect’s Drawing Office, where Soane educated his apprentices in the “art, business, and profession of architecture,” as explained by the museum’s deputy director and inspectress Helen Dorey in a video on the museum’s website. Visitors can see where his pupils worked for 12 hours a day, six days a week to become proficient in their profession.

Museum conservators took a year to restore over 250 works. They meticulously researched how the Drawing Office appeared in Soane’s day. For instance, they discovered that he often placed models of his own designs next to models of the ancient ruins that inspired them. The conservators realigned columns, rejuvenated the desks and paintwork, and reinstated bookcases and stained glass. Some of the casts have hung in Soane’s office for some 200 years, and conservators rehung those works after restoring them with original fixtures, as much as possible, such as timber with long, hand-forged nails. 

Conservators at the Sir John Soane Museum in London often worked in cramped and challenging conditions while restoring Soane’s Drawing Room. The 18th-century architect hung architectural plaster casts up high and on every surface, including the ceiling, making accessing the casts an almost acrobatic affair. (Gareth Gardener)

A plaster model of Sir John Soane’s 1804 design for the northwest corner of the Bank of England building sits on a desk in his Drawing Office. Experts see the Bank of England building as Soane’s greatest design, but unfortunately most of the building was demolished in the 1920s and only the façade of his design survives. Gareth Gardener

Visitors can now see the Drawing Office hung high with the artworks and architectural casts that inspired Soane, his draftsmen, and pupils. Maybe visitors will be inspired by the noble, enduring traditions of architecture echoed in Soane’s first lecture, when he reiterated the importance of looking to beauty and tradition to inform our progress: “If we have industry and application, to make us acquainted with the grand, sublime, and beautiful in architecture; enough yet remains to enable us to restore the art to at least a large portion of its ancient glory.”

To find out more about Sir John Soane’s Drawing Office, visit DrawingOffice.Soane.org

Would you like to see other kinds of arts and culture articles? Please email us your story ideas or feedback at [email protected]