Designs for the Royal British Female Orphan Asylum, Stoke Damerel, Plymouth: elevation of the south front

NOTES: This design is one of a number of drawings bound into five volumes entitled 'Architectural works of George Wightwick', made between 1832 and 1850. Wightwick instructed his articled pupils to make this detailed set of retrospective drawings to illustrate every building of importance he had designed. The drawings were intended to serve both as a record of Wightwick's completed buildings and as a method of conveying to his students the design process from initial working design to finished structure. The Royal British Female Orphan Asylum (later known as the Royal United Service Orphan Home for Girls) was founded in 1839 to house, care for and train orphan girls whose fathers were formerly members of the armed services.