Enfilade

George Dance, Bank of England: Record Drawing of the Wall from Lothbury Street, 1794–97
(London: Sir John Soane’s Museum, SM 12/1/2).

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From The Soane:

George Dance the Younger: A Bicentennial Celebration

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, 14 January — 31 December 2025

Curated by Frances Sands 

On 14 January 2025, we mark the bicentenary of the death of the architect George Dance the Younger (1741–1825). Dance is not a household name, and relatively few of his buildings survive, but during his lifetime he was an innovative and celebrated architect. Moreover, as the architectural mentor of John Soane, his influence looms large at Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Born in 1741, George Dance studied architecture in Italy from 1758 until 1764. Initially joining his father’s architectural practice on his return to London, Dance then succeeded him as Clerk of the City Works in 1768. His long and prolific career of 1764–1816 spanned the neoclassical movement and the Greek Revival and he experimented with and shaped both styles. Dance accepted apprentices into his office, shaping the careers of major architects including John Soane, who was apprenticed to Dance in 1768–71. Dance was also a founder member of the Royal Academy.

There is little surviving correspondence from Dance and almost nothing to reveal his thoughts on architecture. Moreover, few of his buildings survive. Yet his legacy is notable, thanks largely to his surviving drawings at the Soane Museum. These were the last great addition to Soane’s collection, on 18 November 1836, just weeks before Soane died. Soane’s accounts show that he paid Dance’s son, Sir Charles Webb Dance, £500 for the drawings collection. Along too came a handsome cabinet, known as ‘The Shrine’ which had been made to contain the drawings. The Shrine can be admired in the North Drawing Room at the Soane Museum and still contains the Dance collection, comprising an invaluable record of the work of George Dance the Younger, a towering figure in architectural history.

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