influential architects, had one of his first architectural apprenticeships. Upon the death of Thomas Gurnell, his son Johnathan II inherited the house. On his death in 1791, ownership passed to his young daughter (but was held in trust). The house was let out until 1799 when the trustees decided to sell it. Sir John Soane (1800–1810) By the 1790s, John Soane had a successful architectural practice in London, holding the post of architect to the Bank of England. In 1794 Soane, his wife Eliza and their two young sons moved into 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields (now part of the Sir John Soane's Museum) in central London, which doubled as an architecture office for him and his staff. In early 1800, Soane decided to acquire a family country home to the west of London. Soane intended it as a country villa for entertaining guests, to showcase his skills as an architect and his collection of art and antiquities, and eventually for passing down to his elder son. Though he initially planned to have the house purpose built, he saw potential in Pitzhanger, likely due to his work there during his bricklayer apprenticeship. On 21 July 1800 he visited Pitzhanger, which he had heard was available, and offered the trustees £4,500 for the whole estate of ; it was accepted on 1 August. Soane worked vigorously on the designs of the new house, and over a hundred drawings for it are held by Soane's Museum. He planned for the demolition of the older part of the house and many of the outbuildings; however, he retained the two-storey south wing designed by George Dance. Soane had worked on this element of Pitzhanger as an apprentice for Dance, and admired its elegant interiors. Demolition began in 1800, keeping its original position in Walpole Park. Most of Soane's radical rebuilding was complete by late 1803. Fully completed in 1804, the central section of the house displays many typical Soane features: quartered and canopy dome ceilings, inset mirrors, and wooden panelling. Soane continued the building to the east with mock Roman ruins and a kitchen block (perhaps an adaptation of existing buildings). The buildings in this eastern part of the site were demolished in or around 1901. The building's shares many architectural features with his main London home at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Much of Soane’s collection of paintings and classical antiquities now at the Soane Museum