The Ordnance Drawing Room 1716–52

Abstract

English Heritage Trust manages many of the buildings erected by the Office of Ordnance, which until its abolition in 1856 was the government department responsible for the construction of fortifications and of buildings for the storage of munitions and weaponry. In the aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession this office was re-organized, and it was progressively enlarged in response to the demands made by the succession of 18th-century wars. A branch dedicated to architectural drawing was formed, with a room allocated for its use in the Tower of London. Besides the Office of the King’s Works, which was smaller, the Ordnance Drawing Room was the only permanent public body of professional architects in 18th-century England, and it evolved its own practices, style and architectural education. With few exceptions, the staff of the Drawing Room are rarely considered as architects, only as military engineers; few of their names are known except to military historians. This article identifies them and describes their working environment, the Drawing Room itself, where they designed buildings in Scilly, Pendennis, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Dover, Upnor, Tilbury, Landguard, Scarborough, Tynemouth, Berwick and Carlisle, which are now in the care of English Heritage Trust. As an aid to attribution of the numerous drawings produced by the office in the period between 1716 and 1752 (when the Drawing Room moved premises), the article is succeeded by a catalogue of drawings for the buildings within the Tower itself, and by a transcription of a Register of Drawings for the Tower made by the author from what may be a unique copy in Historic England’s archives. The author’s concordance of the Register with the drawings identifies many of them, and lays the foundation for the attribution of many more.