Premium
Virtus on Whitehall: The Politics of Palladianism in William Kent's Treasury Building, 1733–6 1
Author(s) -
DODSWORTH FRANCIS
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6443.2005.00259.x
Subject(s) - treasury , politics , state (computer science) , competence (human resources) , sociology , law , context (archaeology) , statement (logic) , independence (probability theory) , government (linguistics) , political science , management , history , philosophy , economics , archaeology , linguistics , statistics , mathematics , algorithm , computer science
The development of the modern state in the eighteenth century had a material as well as a socio‐political dimension. The 1730s saw the domination of neo‐Palladianism in the Office of Works and the establishment of a prominent and permanent administrative centre whose style made an architectural statement about the conduct of Walpole's government. The nature of this statement is only comprehensible when viewed in the context of contemporary political debate. William Kent's Treasury invoked antique Rome in order to emphasise the government's competence and assert the independence of its officers from patronage and their commitment to the common good.