Whitton House, Middlesex: Mezzanine and Attic Floor Plans
Date:
between 1732 and 1739
Materials & Techniques:
Graphite, pen and black ink and gray wash on medium, slightly textured, beige laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 18 7/16 x 12 7/16 inches (46.8 x 31.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.1141
Gallery Label:
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 mezzanine and attic floor plans are part of a set of drawings for a five-bay, three story house with a slightly shouldered plan and flanking office wings. The great room rises up from the first floor to occupy part of the mezzanine story. The attic has a gallery measuring forty feet; a stair at the center of the plan leads to the cupola at the apex of the roof overhead. Both floors have two bedroom suites on the north side overlooking the court front and smaller bedrooms at the corners of the building to the south. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014
