The idea of a competition was unusual at that time, the only precedent in England being Blackfriars Bridge, 1759.  Dance may have suggested it to the Building Commtttee and, because of his position as Surveyor, would have been ineligible.  This might have suited him well since he would be under no obligation to work without a fee and Dance may also have hoped that the competition would be won by Soane or even by James Peacock, his indispensable chief assistant.  An elevation for St Luke's, attributed to Peacock,  is among Dance's drawings (SM, D4/1/1 and see Lever, op.cit below, catalogue [34].3). As it turned out, neither of Soane's designs was successful and nor were any of the competition entries commissioned.  Instead Dance was asked to design the new St Luke's.  He did so, in three building phases between 1782 and 1789, charging his usual fee of 5% (£2,227 of the £44,450 contract sum) and employing Soane to help with, for example, the contract drawings (SM, D4/2/1-7, Lever, op.cit. below, [34].5-11).  Soane's Note book 1 has two references to St Luke's, that is,  'Lunatic Hospital &c' (6 July 1781) and 'Lunatic Hospital, items of work, and quantities of material for same' (25 July 1781).

'St Luke's as built to a radically trimmed budget,  looks a lot like the simpler of Soane's two designs, only flattened out' (P. du Prey, op.cit.below, p.52).  The supposition is that Dance's built design owed something to Soane's competition design 'N⁰ 7' (drawings 4-7).  But it can be viewed the other way - that Dance was retrieving elements of planning and of elevational treatment that he had suggested to Soane.  'Was there possibly an element of collusion in the behavious of the two?  Whatever the circumstances, Soane swallowed his pride and never revealed his drawings.  His defeat at the St Luke's competition remained ... one of his best-kept professional secrets' (du Prey, op.cit.below, p.53). 

Literature. P.du Prey, John Soane, the making of an architect, 1982. Chapter 3 (Architecture for madness: the St Luke's competition);  J.Lever, Catalogue of the drawings of George Dance the Younger (1741-1825) and of George Dance the Elder (1695-1768) from the collection of the Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2003, catalogue [34] (St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics).

1 The Basement Story of a Design for a Lunatic Hospital

2 The Ground Floor of a Design for a Lunatic Hospital  /  The parts distinguished by the lighter Teints (sic) are proposed to be elevated only Nine feet above the level of this  /  Story, excepting the Infirmarys which are supposed to be the same height as the Ground floor of the  /  Hospital.  /  This design contains 138 Cells for the Female Patients  /  113 Cells for the Male ditto  /  (total) 251, Old Street, Area for the Women 197 feet by 146 feet, Area for the Men 197 feet by 146 feet

3 Section on the Line A,B,C,D,E,F and Elevation next Old Street

DRAWINGS 1-3 SHOULD BE HERE BUT Disappeared - MESSAGE 'EMAIL TO BEN'  10.03 am Tuesday 30 September 2008.Also 'phoned him 10.08 am

4 Half-plan of (inscribed by Dance ?) Cellar Story

5 Ground Floor plan of a Design for a Lunatic Hospital

6 (inscribed by Dance ?) Plan of the One Pair of Stairs Story

7 Section on the Line A.B. and Elevation next Old Street