Catalogue description Office of Works and successors: proposals for Whitehall: photographs of models of 1869-1870, 1972 and 1979: Digital Records formerly in WORK 90.

This series contains records of the Office of Works and successors, originally held in WORK 90.

These records were transferred to this series as part of the programme of migration of digital records at The National Archives in March 2008 and were presented via Electronic Records Online until 2014.

Photographs of 1869-1870 model:

A single 3-D model, showing early proposals for Whitehall, circa 1869-1870. Created (in 1869?), for Office of Works from a design by Lieutenant-Colonel (later Sir) Andrew Clarke, RE, Admiralty Director of Engineering Works, 1864-1873.

The model illustrates Lt-Col Clarke's comprehensive scheme for Whitehall, which was not adopted. It is thought to be one of the few surviving instances of a Board of Ordnance model.

The model is constructed from cardboard covered with paper, on a wooden base/frame. Highly coloured, in a naturalistic way, and very detailed, including architechural detail, people, animals and plants.

The photographs were taken before the model was transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2002.

Photographs of 1972 and 1979-82 models:

11 models which fit together to form one large 3-D representation of Whitehall from St James Park to the River Thames, and from Westminster Abbey up to, but not including, Horseguards Parade. Created to display Parliamentary Competition proposals, 1972, for the revamping of Whitehall, and subsequently enlarged to illustrate further competition proposals for the New Parliamentary Building, Bridge Street (1979) and to illustrate the Queen Elizabeth II International Conference Centre (1979-80) as built. The last work on the models was completed in 1982. Recently repairs have been carried out to the Westminster section of the combined model in connection with its exhibition in Glasgow (1999) and Dublin (2000).

The proposals were slotted into a small area of the main models as four separate units to replace what already existed. None of these proposals were actually built.

The model is constructed from cardboard covered with paper, on a wooden base/frame. Highly coloured, in a naturalistic way, and very detailed, including architechural detail, people, animals and plants.

These models were created, amended and repaired for the Department of the Environment and Property Services Agency by Vic Wigzell, Director of Modelmaking at Pipers, London.

The photographs were taken before the models were presented to the Museum of London in 2002. Other record photographs were taken when the models were first completed, and show the proposal units (now destroyed) slotted into place; these photographs are to be accessioned.

Museum of London Library

Victoria & Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design

Property Advisers to the Civil Estate