Rough ground plan for an early proposal for the Deanery of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, now demolished in the Vanbrugh Album, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (ca.1695-1733).

Rough ground plan for an early proposal for the Deanery of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, now demolished.

Part of the Vanbrugh Album, which was purchased in 1992 with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Art Collections Fund, The Monument Trust, The Sainsbury Trust, and an anonymous donor.

The Deanery stood beside the church of St John on the west side of Fishamble Street. The plan shows a central, vaulted, passage leading into the building instead of a front door. It is, in fact, a plan for three separate houses, one for the Dean, one for the Chancellor and one for the Chanter, all entered from the centrally placed domed vestibule. In each case the door leads into an entrance hall with a short flight of steps. From this the visitor enters the main staircase hall. The domed vestibule approached by a vaulted passage is a domestic version of the grotto Pearce built for Viscount Allen at Stillorgan. See Edward McParland, p. 130.

The link between this plan and the Deanery is established by a map of the site in Fishamble Street (National Library of Ireland, Ms 2789, fol.12) and by the chapter acts of Christ Church which show that Pearce designed and built the house between 1731 and 1733. On 12 August 1731 `a plan drawn by Capt. Edward Pearce Surveyor General of three Houses ordered to be built for the Habitation and residence of the Dean Chanter and Chancellor' was approved. [From Representative Church Body, Dublin, copy chapter acts of Christ Church Cathedral, vol iv, 21 Nov 1716; vol v 12 Aug 1731 and 15 Nov 1733.]

Rough ground plan for an early proposal for the Deanery of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, now demolished.

This drawing is part of the Vanbrugh Album from the Library at Elton Hall. The Album contains 254 drawings and includes works by Sir John Vanbrugh, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, William Talman, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Richard Castle and anonymous draughtsmen in Vanbrugh's office. It was created ca. 1945-54 and was purchased by Victoria and Albert Museum in 1992.

E.2124:39-1992