Towering Dreams Extraordinary Architectural Drawings by Jane Simpkiss

Throughout history, architects have always dreamed big. From the towering spires of medieval Gothic cathedrals to 20th-century Modernist buildings, architecture relies on invention and experimentation. Architects in the 18th and 19th centuries were no different, using their imaginations and understanding of the past to build the future.
Throughout this period, particularly in France and Britain, architects began to theorise about their practice, considering why certain building designs were better than others. This birth of architectural theory was intimately connected with the Enlightenment, an 18th-century philosophy that championed rational thought and scientific enquiry and which was bound up with an interest in the ancient classical world.

This booklet accompanies the exhibition Towering Dreams: Extraordinary Architectural Drawings at Compton Verney, 15th March-31st August 2025.

Written by Jane Simpkiss

Unless specified, all works in this booklet are from the collection of Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.
The quotes from Sir John Soane’s Royal Academy Lectures were taken from the original manuscript volumes of the lectures as published by David Watkin in Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures, Cambridge Studies in the History of Architecture, (Cambridge University Press, 1996).