Item 35 - Christmas card of a water-colour drawing of the rear elevation of the Society's House, seen from the North side of the Strand looking through Durham House Yard, it has been especially made by Sir Hugh Casson, President of the Royal Academy of Arts and formerly a Vice-President of the Society and Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry

The back of the House as originally completed faced on to the backs of other nearby, now non-existent, buildings and was hardly visible to the general public. The widening of the Strand in the 1920's brought it into a prominence never contemplated by the architects, Robert and James Adam, and revealed its untidy and ugly appearance. Sir George Sutton, then a Vice-President of the Society, undertook to pay the whole cost of re-designing and decorating it. The work was completed in 1927. It was carried out by Aston Webb, whose pilasters carrying a pediment were based on the design of the existing, original John Adam Street facade. The surmounting figure on the skyline was designed by Walter Gilbert. The reliefs in between the pilasters, symbolizing Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, were modelled by E J Bradford. 37,925 copies sold.

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C/28/5

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Creator Victoria 22/12/1998