Ground Plan of the Proposed New Museum at South Kensington for the Science and Art Department
Design
ca. 1864 (made)
ca. 1864 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
In the years directly following the 1857 opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the majority of buildings on the Museum site were temporary or inherited structures (see E.1321-1927). Dating from ca. 1864, this fragment (just over half) of a plan shows both the temporary and inherited structures and a scheme for replacing them. In the new layout, a large courtyard occupies the centre of the site, with an apsed lecture theatre to the north, residences and accommodation for the Art School to the west, and a cour d'honneur with curving colonnade to the south. The areas here marked blue - the lecture theatre, and the ranges that frame it to the north and west – would all be executed. Building was underway by 1865, when some of the temporary structures were demolished to make space for the workmen. The curving colonnade and the blocks flanking the far west edge of the site would not, however, be carried out. The designer, Francis Fowke, was already working on a version of this extensive scheme in 1860 and continued to refine it until his death in 1865.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Ground Plan of the Proposed New Museum at South Kensington for the Science and Art Department (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Lithograph with pen and ink and watercolour on paper backed with linen |
| Brief description | Lithographic print, design for Victoria and Albert Museum by Francis Fowke, showing permanent, proposed and temporary buildings, ca. 1864 |
| Physical description | Lithograph with pen and ink and watercolour on paper backed with linen, comprising a fragment (the left-hand half) of an architectural plan of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The lithograph shows substantial blocks arranged around a central courtyard and a cour d’honneur. The north side of the courtyard is formed by an apsed Lecture Theatre range; this has been drawn onto a rectangular piece of paper in pen and ink, and glued onto the print. With the ranges immediately to its west and north, the Lecture Theatre range is shaded blue. To the south of the central courtyard is a cour d'honneur with a curving colonnade in its south-west corner. The blocks filling the south-west part of the site are not shaded, and have the outlines of Brompton Park House and the transverse range of the ‘Junction’ building, from which a block containing offices and the first lecture theatre projects north, drawn across them in pen and ink. Brompton Park House and the Junction building are shaded pink. Room use labelled; compass points marked. |
| Dimensions |
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| Place depicted | |
| Summary | In the years directly following the 1857 opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the majority of buildings on the Museum site were temporary or inherited structures (see E.1321-1927). Dating from ca. 1864, this fragment (just over half) of a plan shows both the temporary and inherited structures and a scheme for replacing them. In the new layout, a large courtyard occupies the centre of the site, with an apsed lecture theatre to the north, residences and accommodation for the Art School to the west, and a cour d'honneur with curving colonnade to the south. The areas here marked blue - the lecture theatre, and the ranges that frame it to the north and west – would all be executed. Building was underway by 1865, when some of the temporary structures were demolished to make space for the workmen. The curving colonnade and the blocks flanking the far west edge of the site would not, however, be carried out. The designer, Francis Fowke, was already working on a version of this extensive scheme in 1860 and continued to refine it until his death in 1865. |
| Bibliographic reference | Physick, John. The Victoria and Albert Museum: The History of Its Building. London: The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982.
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1350-1979 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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