Architecture · Classical & Renaissance

Christopher Wren

1632–1723 · English

English Baroque

Sir Christopher Wren was an astronomer and founding member of the Royal Society who became the greatest of English architects after the Great Fire of London gave him a ruined city to rebuild. As Surveyor of the King's Works he built fifty-one City churches and the new St Paul's Cathedral, whose triple-shell dome he raised over a hidden brick cone. His epitaph in the cathedral invites the reader to look around for his monument.

How to spot them

▸A lead-covered dome on a colonnaded drum; white Portland stone; a forest of City steeples in every material from stone to lead
▸A scientist first: Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford and a founder of the Royal Society
▸Surveyor of the King's Works from 1669; his draughtsmen included Nicholas Hawksmoor
▸The Latin epitaph 'Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice'

Key buildings

A dome of three shells over the City of London, the outer one of lead on timber and the middle a hidden brick cone carrying the stone lantern (1675–1711)

Ludgate Hill, London

St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt after the Great Fire; the architect is buried in its crypt.

A hollow fluted Doric column 202 feet high, standing 202 feet from the baker's shop where a fire began (1671–1677)

Fish Street Hill, London

The Monument, designed with Robert Hooke; 311 steps to the viewing platform.

A retirement home for old soldiers in scarlet coats, founded by Charles II and still occupied by them (1682–1692)

Chelsea, London

The Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners and of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Twin domed blocks framing a river view of an earlier queen's white villa, with a Painted Hall by Thornhill (begun 1696)

Greenwich, London

The Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich; Nelson lay in state in the Painted Hall.

A D-shaped university ceremonial hall, its flat ceiling painted as an open sky and its roof spanned without pillars (1664–1669)

Oxford, England

The Sheldonian Theatre, his first major building, modelled on the Theatre of Marcellus; built while he was Professor of Astronomy.

A City church with a dome on eight arches, a small-scale rehearsal for a far larger one nearby, and a Henry Moore altar (1672–1680)

City of London

St Stephen Walbrook; the Samaritans were founded there by Chad Varah.

A Cambridge library raised on an open arcade, its floor dropped behind the balustrade so the windows light the bookcases (1676–1695)

Trinity College, Cambridge

The Wren Library, holding Newton's own copy of the Principia and the manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh.

A red-brick baroque range grafted onto a Tudor palace for William and Mary (1689–1694)

East Molesey, Surrey

The Fountain Court range at Hampton Court; the plan to rebuild the whole palace was abandoned.

Key ideas

A city church should be an 'auditory' — every worshipper able to see and hear the preacher
A dome can be built as three shells: an inner dome for the view from below, a brick cone to carry the lantern, and a timber-framed outer dome for the skyline
Architecture should aim at 'eternity' and so rest on geometry rather than fashion

Quick-fire facts

•He was Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford and a founding member — later President (1680–82) — of the Royal Society
•Within days of the Great Fire of 1666 he presented Charles II with a plan for rebuilding London on boulevards and piazzas; it was never carried out
•He was responsible for 51 new City churches after the Fire; many were destroyed in the Blitz
•St Paul's took from 1675 to 1711 and was declared complete while he still lived — he was hauled up in a basket to inspect the works in old age
•His son placed the epitaph 'Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice' ('Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you') over his tomb in the crypt
•He was knighted in 1673, sat as an MP, and was dismissed as Surveyor of the King's Works in 1718 at the age of 85
•Greenwich, including his Royal Hospital, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
•He designed the Monument with Robert Hooke, partly as a scientific instrument: its hollow shaft was intended for use as a zenith telescope and for pendulum experiments

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources

UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Maritime Greenwich
John Summerson — Architecture in Britain 1530–1830