WD2440

Front of the East India House, Leadenhall Street, London. Classical design with Ionic columns, and pediment with sculptured tympanum, surmounted by statues. c.1798.

Pen-and-ink and wash; 18.25 by 31 ins.

Circumstances of acquisition unrecorded.

Note: This is probably one of the original drawings for the new East India House made by Richard Jupp or by his office. Jupp was surveyor to the East India Company for over thirty years until his death in 1799. The final drawings were shown at the Royal Academy in 1798. Work on the building was began in 1796 and completed after Jupp's death by Henry Holland, who succeeded him as Surveyor to the East India Company. The sculptor was John Bacon. The tympanum showed George III in Roman costume defending the commerce of the East. The pediment was surmounted with three sculptures: in the centre Britannia on a lion holding in her left hand a spear with a cap of liberty, and on one side Europe on a horse and on the other Asia on a camel. The East India House was demolished during 1861 and 1862.

For an account of the negotiations connected with the designs for the East India House, see H.M. Colvin, ‘A Biographical dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840’ (London, 1954), under Richard Jupp; W. Foster, ‘The East India House’ (London, 1924),139; A.T. Bolton (ed.) ‘The Portrait of Sir John Soane’ (London, 1927), 59-79. See also Nicholas Brawer, 'The Anonymous Architect of the India House'‘, The Georgian Group Journal’, vii, 1997, 26-36, which demonstrates that the desgin fo the actual facade is by Holland rather than Jupp.

Two boxes, containing 222 working drawings for East India House, are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, D.1552-1773, 1898. The building is illustrated in J. Britton and A. Pugin,’ The Public buildings of London’ (London, 1828), ii, 77-89.

Foster Catalogue, no.565.