Unbuilt Britain
Watching the excellent series Unbuilt Britain on BBC4 reminded us of how often unsuccessful architectural and engineering proposals are preserved in printed form. Some material covered in the series has already been highlighted on this blog (such as our printed plans for rebuilding London by Wren and Evelyn) but here we draw attention to other unsuccessful and aborted projects:
London Bridge has changed a lot since the 19th century, but it is worth remembering the spectacular design submitted by Thomas Telford when a competition to improve the bridge was held in 1799-1801. Telford's scheme was 'for a single-span cast-iron bridge of 600ft. But not enough was known about the technical factors involved and the whole project was shelved' (The London Encyclopaedia). We have both an overhead plan and a large perspective view of Telford's audacious design:
...Design for A Cast Iron Bridge
Drawn and Aquatinted by Tho.s Malton. The Bridge Engraved by Will.m Lowry.
[London, 1801.]
Coloured aquatint with line. 450 x 1220mm.
[Ref: 4046] £2,000
General Plan by Mess.rs Telford & Douglass...
J.Barlow sculp.
[London, n.d., 1800.]
Coloured engraving on two sheets conjoined,
[Ref: 19713] £490
This spectacular print by William Daniell was published in 1810 and depicts 'the Bridge Now Building over the Thames at Vauxhall...this important work promises to be not only a great public convenience, but an ornament to the Capital, equally honourable to the taste & public spirit of the Individuals at whose expence it has been undertaken':
[Vauxhall Bridge]
Drawn & Engraved by W.m Daniell...
Coloured aquatint. 500 x 860mm, 19¾ x 34".
[Ref: 23091] £1,950
Unfortunately, having so lavishly promoted the new bridge, it was decided mid-construction to adopt James Walker's cheaper cast-iron bridge instead, which opened in 1816.
Colonel Frederick Trench originated the idea of the Thames Embankment in the 1820s, presenting a bill to parliament and commissioning an elaborate panorama of north side of the Thames to illustrate his proposal. As this section shows, Trench's elaborate proposal was far more ambitious than the successful embankment eventually built in the 1860s:
[Somerset House to Temple]
[T.M. Baynes. Charles Hullmandel.]
[published by Ackermann, 1825.]
Coloured lithograph. 272 x 671mm. 10¾ x 26½".
[Ref: 27466] £260
We also have several other sheets from the series.
This map of London, published in 1829, has annotations marked for the 'site of intended cattle market' east of Gray's Inn Road- a site now occupied by a park (St. Andrew's Gardens) and the Eastman Dental Hospital:
An Entire New Plan of the Cities of London & Westminster; with the Borough of Southwark: Comprehending the New Buildings and other Alterations, to the Year 1809.
Pub.d Jan.y 1st 1809 by Edw.d Mogg, No 14 Little Newport Street, Liecester [sic] Square, London.
Engraved map, one sheet only of two. 460 x 490mm, 18 x 19¼".
[Ref: 27395] £490
Telford, unsuccessful in his design for London Bridge, was again scuppered later in life when this plan for a bridge across the River Avon was rejected in favour of Brunel's iconic design:
Mr. T. Telford's, Design for the Suspension Bridge across the River Avon, From St. Vincent's Rocks to Leigh Down. [Principal dimensions below image.]
Dean & Munday's Lithoy. Threadneedle St.
Pubd. by Wright & Bagnall Bristol [n.d., c.1830].
Lithograph, sheet 225 x 285mm. Foxing outside image.
[Ref: 7517] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)
One final bridge plan is this early (pre-1852) proposal for a 'Bridge of Suspension from Little Tower Hill to Horslydown' (where Tower Bridge in London now stands):
[Thames bridge proposal]
F. Barrallier del: Litho: by L: Clark & Co. No.1. Birchin Lane Corn Hill.
[n.d. c.1823.]
Lithograph, rare. Sheet 367 x 538mm. 14½ x 21¼".
£260
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square isn't the only site of a planned monument to William IV- this huge planned statue, planned for Herne Bay in Kent, could have been our equivalent of the Statue of Liberty!
[Proposed monument to King William IV at Herne Bay, Kent.]
G. Tytler Invt [in image, on statue plinth].
[British, c.1832.]
Rare lithograph, hand-coloured view from the sea with adjacent uncoloured plan of the interior in cross-section (from the same stone). Sheet 255 x 320mm, 10 x 12½". A little surface-soiled, with creases and three closed tears to margin.
[Ref: 26222] £230
An ambitious but unsuccessful attempt to build a railway terminus at Elswick near Newcastle is recorded in this 'isometrical plan':
Isometrical Plan of Mr. Grainger's Proposed Concentration of the Termini of the Several Railways from London, Edinburgh, Carlisly, Shields and Sunderland, at a General Depot at Elswick.
Engraved by W. Collard.
T. Sopwith, C.E. [n.d. c.1840.]
A very rare and scarce engraving. Sheet 406 x 247mm. 16 x 9¾". False margins added
[Ref: 16104] £360
London's Royal Courts of Justice could have ended up in the middle of Lincoln's Inn Fields if Sir Charles Barry had had his way:
Plan of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and the Surrounding Neighbourhood, Shewing Proposed site of New Law Courts. And Improved Approaches.
After Sir Charles Barry. / Day & Haghe. Lith.rs to th Queen.
[n.d., c.1840].
Lithograph with original hand colour, rare. Printed area: 445 x 330mm. (17¾ x 13").
[Ref: 29435] £160
And finally, a spectacular view of an unsuccessful 1851 proposal for London's Smithfield Market:
Isometric View Of Proposed Improvements In The Neighbourhood Of Smithfield. [&] Ground Plan Of Proposed Improvements In The Neighbourhood Of Smithfield.
B. Bunning, Archt. To The Corporation Of London, 1851. G. Hawkins, Lith.
King, Litho: College Hill, City.
Pair of chromolithographs
[Ref: 7990] £850
London Bridge has changed a lot since the 19th century, but it is worth remembering the spectacular design submitted by Thomas Telford when a competition to improve the bridge was held in 1799-1801. Telford's scheme was 'for a single-span cast-iron bridge of 600ft. But not enough was known about the technical factors involved and the whole project was shelved' (The London Encyclopaedia). We have both an overhead plan and a large perspective view of Telford's audacious design:
Drawn and Aquatinted by Tho.s Malton. The Bridge Engraved by Will.m Lowry.
[London, 1801.]
Coloured aquatint with line. 450 x 1220mm.
[Ref: 4046] £2,000
J.Barlow sculp.
[London, n.d., 1800.]
Coloured engraving on two sheets conjoined,
[Ref: 19713] £490
This spectacular print by William Daniell was published in 1810 and depicts 'the Bridge Now Building over the Thames at Vauxhall...this important work promises to be not only a great public convenience, but an ornament to the Capital, equally honourable to the taste & public spirit of the Individuals at whose expence it has been undertaken':
Drawn & Engraved by W.m Daniell...
Coloured aquatint. 500 x 860mm, 19¾ x 34".
[Ref: 23091] £1,950
Unfortunately, having so lavishly promoted the new bridge, it was decided mid-construction to adopt James Walker's cheaper cast-iron bridge instead, which opened in 1816.
Colonel Frederick Trench originated the idea of the Thames Embankment in the 1820s, presenting a bill to parliament and commissioning an elaborate panorama of north side of the Thames to illustrate his proposal. As this section shows, Trench's elaborate proposal was far more ambitious than the successful embankment eventually built in the 1860s:
[T.M. Baynes. Charles Hullmandel.]
[published by Ackermann, 1825.]
Coloured lithograph. 272 x 671mm. 10¾ x 26½".
[Ref: 27466] £260
We also have several other sheets from the series.
This map of London, published in 1829, has annotations marked for the 'site of intended cattle market' east of Gray's Inn Road- a site now occupied by a park (St. Andrew's Gardens) and the Eastman Dental Hospital:
Pub.d Jan.y 1st 1809 by Edw.d Mogg, No 14 Little Newport Street, Liecester [sic] Square, London.
Engraved map, one sheet only of two. 460 x 490mm, 18 x 19¼".
[Ref: 27395] £490
Telford, unsuccessful in his design for London Bridge, was again scuppered later in life when this plan for a bridge across the River Avon was rejected in favour of Brunel's iconic design:
Dean & Munday's Lithoy. Threadneedle St.
Pubd. by Wright & Bagnall Bristol [n.d., c.1830].
Lithograph, sheet 225 x 285mm. Foxing outside image.
[Ref: 7517] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)
One final bridge plan is this early (pre-1852) proposal for a 'Bridge of Suspension from Little Tower Hill to Horslydown' (where Tower Bridge in London now stands):
F. Barrallier del: Litho: by L: Clark & Co. No.1. Birchin Lane Corn Hill.
[n.d. c.1823.]
Lithograph, rare. Sheet 367 x 538mm. 14½ x 21¼".
£260
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square isn't the only site of a planned monument to William IV- this huge planned statue, planned for Herne Bay in Kent, could have been our equivalent of the Statue of Liberty!
G. Tytler Invt [in image, on statue plinth].
[British, c.1832.]
Rare lithograph, hand-coloured view from the sea with adjacent uncoloured plan of the interior in cross-section (from the same stone). Sheet 255 x 320mm, 10 x 12½". A little surface-soiled, with creases and three closed tears to margin.
[Ref: 26222] £230
An ambitious but unsuccessful attempt to build a railway terminus at Elswick near Newcastle is recorded in this 'isometrical plan':
Engraved by W. Collard.
T. Sopwith, C.E. [n.d. c.1840.]
A very rare and scarce engraving. Sheet 406 x 247mm. 16 x 9¾". False margins added
[Ref: 16104] £360
London's Royal Courts of Justice could have ended up in the middle of Lincoln's Inn Fields if Sir Charles Barry had had his way:
After Sir Charles Barry. / Day & Haghe. Lith.rs to th Queen.
[n.d., c.1840].
Lithograph with original hand colour, rare. Printed area: 445 x 330mm. (17¾ x 13").
[Ref: 29435] £160
And finally, a spectacular view of an unsuccessful 1851 proposal for London's Smithfield Market:
B. Bunning, Archt. To The Corporation Of London, 1851. G. Hawkins, Lith.
King, Litho: College Hill, City.
Pair of chromolithographs
[Ref: 7990] £850
