Wesley’s Chapel Exterior and Portico Drawing
2008/11488/5
1950-2000 / B/W / Paper / Photograph / Wesley's Chapel
Photograph
1970s
This black and white photograph shows an original design drawing of the west exterior and entrance portico of Wesley's Chapel (1778).
The building was designed by George Dance the Younger (1741-1825) who, at the time, was the Architect and Surveyor to the Corporation of London and responsible for the design of public buildings in the City of London. It was the same office Christopher Wren had held a hundred years or so before Dance, during which time Wren designed the City Churches.
The design drawing shows the planned, neoclassical portico of the Chapel. This was semi-circular, the roof being supported by Ionic columns and a frieze decorated with classical swags. The portico was not built as designed; Wesley chose a simpler version of rectangular steps and a pilastered entrance door. Both were replaced in the early 1800s with a rectangular portico with Greek Doric columns, a style fashionable at that time. This now gives a more monumental, but less refined, appearance than Dance's semi-circular portico.
The original drawing is in the Guildhall Library, London. See also the photograph of the design for the east (garden) exterior of the Chapel in the Online Collection, 2008/11488/4.
1970s
This black and white photograph shows an original design drawing of the west exterior and entrance portico of Wesley's Chapel (1778).
The building was designed by George Dance the Younger (1741-1825) who, at the time, was the Architect and Surveyor to the Corporation of London and responsible for the design of public buildings in the City of London. It was the same office Christopher Wren had held a hundred years or so before Dance, during which time Wren designed the City Churches.
The design drawing shows the planned, neoclassical portico of the Chapel. This was semi-circular, the roof being supported by Ionic columns and a frieze decorated with classical swags. The portico was not built as designed; Wesley chose a simpler version of rectangular steps and a pilastered entrance door. Both were replaced in the early 1800s with a rectangular portico with Greek Doric columns, a style fashionable at that time. This now gives a more monumental, but less refined, appearance than Dance's semi-circular portico.
The original drawing is in the Guildhall Library, London. See also the photograph of the design for the east (garden) exterior of the Chapel in the Online Collection, 2008/11488/4.
