YCBA Collections Search

This drawing is part of a set of designs for Whitton Place, Middlesex, a villa begun in 1731 by Roger Morris (see drawings B1977.14.1138–44). In 1722, Archibald Campbell, first Earl of Ilay, later third Duke of Argyll, acquired forty acres of Crown land at Whitton, a hamlet about eight miles west of London. An experienced gardener, Ilay cultivated the land with exotic trees and plants. He and his brother John, second Duke of Argyll, were active builders from 1714 and often turned to James Gibbs for their commissions, including the greenhouse and folly at Whitton. Rather than the Tory Gibbs, however, Ilay commissioned the Whig architect Roger Morris. The small house was built on a forty-five-foot square plan with small single-bay projections on each of the four walls. Contemporary reports describe the first floor as decorated in chinoiserie and the ground floor as a museum of curiosities. William Chambers lived at Whitton Place later in the century. The building was demolished in the mid-nineteenth century.

The south elevation is part of a set of drawings for a five-bay, three story house with a slightly shouldered plan and flanking office wings. The garden front has five bays with projecting ends, the round-headed entrance framed by a Gibbs surround. The principal floor has windows encased in full architraves, and the mezzanine floor is demarcated by oculus windows. The ground slopes so that the wings are single-story buildings from this aspect, as opposed to double-height buildings on the north front.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014