Christopher Wren (

Wren the scientist. The greatest British architect of all time was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, in 1632, the son of the rector of Knoyle. Christopher Wren attended Westminster School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated with a masters degree in 1651. At this stage Wren was a pure scientist (by the standards of the time) focusing on astronomy, physics, and anatomy. He experimented with submarine design, road paving, and design of telescopes. At the tender age of 25 he was offered the Chair of Astronomy at Gresham College, London.

In 1660 Wren was one of the founding members of the Society of Experimental Philosophy. In 1662, under the patronage of Charles II, this body became known as the Royal Society.

A first stab at architecture. It was not until 1663 that Wren tried his hand at architecture, and his first commission was literally the result of nepotism. His uncle, then Bishop of Ely, got him the job of designing Pembroke College Chapel at Cambridge University. Next was the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, based on the classical design of the Roman Theatre of Marcellus. This was the work that made Wren's reputation as an architect.

Wren's plan for London. In 1666 Wren's plan for the reconstruction of St. Paul's Cathedral in London was accepted. Just six days later the Great Fire of London took matters out of Wren's hands by destroying the cathedral completely. Within days of the fire Wren pres 616f54g ented a plan to Charles for rebuilding the entire city of London along classical lines, with broad tree-lined avenues cutting through the former warren of twisting streets and alleys.

The churches of London. Such a drastic renovation was not surprisingly rejected, but Wren was appointed to be one of the architectural commissioners overseeing the rebuilding of the city. In this capacity Wren designed and supervised the rebuilding of 51 city churches over the next 46 years. Each church was different, though all were classical in style. Wren evolved a uniquely British "wedding cake" style of steeple based on classical Roman temples. Part of Wren's success was due to his personal involvement in the work under his supervision. He insisted on the finest materials and a very high standard of workmanship.

St. Paul's was Wren's masterpiece. He submitted several designs - the "Great Model" of 1673 was his favourite, but the huge domed structure was rejected by the commissioners as too Catholic. Undeterred, Wren made a new plan which toned down the dome and topped it with a steeple. The royal warrant approving this design allowed for "variations, rather ornamental than essential." Wren exploited this loophole to perfection, gradually and surreptitiously slipping in many of his Great Model ideas without advertising the fact. By the time anyone realised what he had done, it was too late to change.

And more than churches... Wren did far more than churches. He was responsible for Tom Tower at Christ's Church, Oxford, the library at Trinity College, and the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. He also enlarged and remodeled Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and the Naval Hospital at Greenwich. He is rightly regarded as the most influential British architect of all time.

See also:
Grinling Gibbons
St. Paul's Cathedral
Stuart London

Christopher Wren - architect and astronomer

Christopher Wren is best known as the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, but his first love was science and mathematics. During the first part of his career he worked as an astronomer. The Royal Observatory at Greenwich, which he designed, combines both aspects of this famous man's work - astronomy and architecture.

Where was Wren born and educated?
Wren was born in 1632 in the village of East Knoyle in Wiltshire, where his father was Rector. Soon afterwards his father moved to Windsor, and young Christopher was sent to Westminster School in London. He showed an early talent for mathematics and went on to study at Oxford University.

What were Wren's early interests?
Wren always enjoyed inventing and making things. As a young man he constructed a pneumatic machine and a device for writing in the dark. He also made models of the Moon and the solar system.

In 1657, when Wren was only twenty-five, he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London. A group of scientists met there regularly to discuss their ideas. This group formed the core of what would later become the Royal Society. After several more years spent on scientific research, Wren became Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford in 1661.

What happened to Wren's family during the Civil War?
As staunch Royalists, Wren's family suffered during the Civil War, which began when Wren himself was only ten. His uncle Matthew, the Bishop of Ely, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eighteen years. The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 brought new opportunities to those families loyal to the crown, and Wren was in a good position to benefit from this.

How did Wren's interest in architecture begin?
Wren's interest in architecture developed from his study of physics and engineering. At a time when architecture was considered to be a part-time interest for wealthy and educated gentlemen, Wren was one of the few architects to have a sound knowledge of the structure of buildings.

What was the Royal Society?
The 17th century was a time when the sciences flourished and great strides forward were made in medicine and in physics. In 1628, for instance, William Harvey wrote a treatise on the circulation of the blood. It was also the age of Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle. As King Charles II was interested in all scientific matters, the society that Wren and his friends formed at Gresham College soon came to his notice. He granted it a Royal Charter in 1661.

What was Wren's first building?
The first building that Wren designed was a chapel for Pembroke College, Cambridge. It was commissioned in 1665 by his uncle, the Bishop of Ely. Around the same time he worked on a design for the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. This building was Wren's first opportunity to design a dome. To help him with this, he studied drawings of Michelangelo's great dome at St. Peter's in Rome. He also visited Paris in 1665, and was impressed by the new baroque dome of Lemercier's church of the Sorbonne and Mansart's church of Les Invalides.

What did Wren design in London?
A dramatic opportunity for Wren to design many buildings for London came when a fire broke out in Pudding Lane in the heart of the old city in September 1666. Many of the houses were made of timber and built very close together, so the fire spread rapidly. By the time the fire was put out, around 13,000 houses and seventy parish churches were destroyed.

What happened after the Great Fire?
Christopher Wren, with several others, including Robert Hooke and the diarist John Evelyn, took on the task of surveying the extent of the damage of the Great Fire. Wren produced a plan for the city which would create new open spaces along the main thoroughfares. Although this plan could not be carried out completely, the King admired the design. The Rebuilding Act of 1667 took care of practical improvements such as the construction of wide streets, enabling Wren to concentrate on designing new churches to replace those that had been burnt down. This work occupied him for the next thirty years.

Was St. Paul's Cathedral burned down in the Fire?
Being quite close to the centre of the fire, St. Paul's was extensively damaged. John Evelyn, after looking at the wreckage, wrote:

...I was infinitely concerned to find that goodly church, St. Paul's, a sad ruin, and that beautiful portico - for structure comparable to any in Europe, and not long before repaired by the late king - now rent in pieces...

How did Wren create his design for St. Paul's Cathedral?
Wren's initial design, called the 'First Model', was not approved by the City Council. They thought it wasn't grand enough. He followed with his 'Great Model' design of 1674, for which he made a large model in wood, six metres long. This was also rejected, this time by the clergy who did not like its Greek key plan. Wren's third design, called the 'Warrant Design', was for a Latin Cross plan with a large dome. This was approved by Royal Warrant in 1675. Even this design was modified, and building wasn't completed until thirty-five years later. The government found money for the rebuilding work from a tax on sea-coal. The cathedral opened in 1697, though the dome was not completed until 1710.

Who worked for Wren on these projects?
Wren wanted the best craftsmanship available. On the various building works he fostered a team of craftsmen, many of whom worked for him for the rest of their lives. Among them was the Master Plasterer, John Groves, who had previously worked on the ceilings of the Queen's House, Greenwich in 1660-61. The famous wood carver, Grinling Gibbons was born in Rotterdam, but was discovered working in a hut in Deptford by Wren's friend John Evelyn. Gibbons worked on various projects with Wren. As well as St. Pauls Cathedral, these included an extension of Hampton Court Palace for King William and Queen Mary. Gibbons remained in London until his death in 1721.

When was the Royal Observatory built?
In 1675, Wren received a commission from Charles II which must have been of special interest to him. The idea was to create a Royal Observatory for the use of John Flamsteed, who that year had been appointed as the first Astronomer Royal. The King hoped that a proper study of the moon and the stars would help to perfect navigation at sea. Using telescopes and other instruments in the new Observatory, the astronomers would record the moon's position relative to certain stars at set times. This would enable navigators to fix their position at sea more accurately. The night sky would, in effect, become the sailor's clock. It was hoped in this way to avoid the growing loss of life and ship's cargoes in shipwrecks.

How was the Observatory built?
The King was very short of funds, so to save money, second-hand building materials were used to build the Observatory. Brick and stone were brought along the River Thames from an old Tudor fort at Tilbury that was being repaired. Other money came from the sale of old gunpowder. In spite of these limitations, Wren managed to create the beautiful Octagon Room. Underneath the Octagon Room, the Observatory included the living quarters for the Royal Astronomer.

Why did Wren design a hospital for sailors at Greenwich?
In 1682, Wren designed a Royal Hospital for soldiers at Chelsea. The idea of building a similar hospital at Greenwich for injured and disabled seamen, may have been that of King James II. As Admiral of the Fleet, he had seen much action at sea. However, nothing was done in his short reign, and it was left to Queen Mary to put the plan into action. Wren's original scheme was to build a three-sided arrangement of buildings incorporating a block by James Webb which had been intended as a new palace for King Charles II until the project ran out of funds. Queen Mary insisted that the view of the Queen's House from the river should be kept, so Wren adapted his plan. The Hospital was finished in 1702, in the reign of Queen Anne.

When did Wren die?
In 1723, at the great age of ninety-one. His achievements during this long life are considerable. He was one of the first professional architects in this country to have a sound knowledge of engineering. He introduced the Baroque style to Britain, though he gave it a more restrained flavour than on the continent. His own view was that St. Paul's was his masterpiece and his gravestone inside the cathedral has a Latin inscription which says if you seek my monument look around you.

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Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones was born in London in 1573. He received no formal training but he was able to journey abroad where he gained insight and knowledge of architecture. A royal protege, he was appointed Surveyor to Henry, Prince of Wales in 1610. In 1613 he was appointed Surveyor of the King's Works. This coincided with Jones' second Italian journey during which he visited northern Italy and studied Palladio's villas. The notes in Jones' copy of the 1570 edition of Palladio's Quattro Libri show his growing mastery of the theory and grammar of classical architecture.

On Jones' return to London he was given the post of Surveyor-General to the Office of Works. Under this title he became involved with a number of large scale houses, churches, and palaces for King James I. Between 1625 -1640 Jones was concerned principally with work on two major London sites: the repair and remodel of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the design of Covent Garden.

Although Jones' work often lack originality, he was an important figure in architecture because he was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaisance to Gothic England.

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The first and greatest of English Renaissance architects, Inigo Jones was an unlikely candidate to change the landscape of British style and design. Yet this self-taught son of a Smithfield clothmaker had an enormous effect on the course of British art and architecture.

He had none of the advantages of birth, influence, and education possessed by his successors, such as Christopher Wren, yet this man with the unusual name rose to the post of Surveyor-General of the King's Works on the basis of his enormous talent, and in the process changed history.

It is thought that Jones visited Italy twice, once in his late 20's, when he attended theatre events at the Medici court in Florence. This helped prepare him for his first major post at the court of James I, where he designed stage settings, costumes, and decorations for court masques.

Later, Jones was taken up by the influential art collector Lord Arundel, who sent him to Italy and France in 1613 to find new works of art. Jones spent a year and a half traveling and studying Roman classical architecture and the more modern European Renaissance attempts to copy it. He was especially taken by the work of the influential Italian architect, Andrea Palladio.

His budding talent was recognized, and in 1615 Jones was elevated to the post of Surveyor-General under James I. This placed him in charge of planning and building royal architectural projects throughout the realm. Now it was time for Jones to put all his study to work.

It is unfortunate for Jones, and for us, that for the rest of his tenure as Surveyor-General, Parliament was very tight with the purse strings. Jones is only known to have undertaken about 40 works for the crown, and very few of these have survived unaltered.

The first major project Jones undertook for the king was Queen's House, in Greenwich. The house was begun for James' queen, Anne of Denmark. However, Anne died soon after building started, and the project was put on hold for almost 15 years before being finished for another queen, this time Henrietta Maria.

Modeled on an Italian palace, Queen's House may appear plain to a modern eye, but at the time it caused a sensation.

Even more successful was Jones' next major commission, Banqueting House in Whitehall. The building was part of an extensive palace remodeling planned at Whitehall, but much of the plans were later scrapped.

Banqueting House was intended to be a setting for formal banquets and court masques, and it was based on the design of a Roman basilica. The upper hall is built to a "double cube", that is 110 x 55 x 55 ft., and classical orders are used in both exterior and interior. The building was for many years the home of the Imperial War Museum, though now it has been restored to its original purpose as a venue for state occasions.

Inigo Jones was also called upon to do ecclesiastical work, the most famous of his designs being Queen's Chapel at St. James Palace (1623-25), and his restoration work on old St. Paul's Cathedral. The former building is now Marlborough House Chapel, but the latter was lost entirely in the Great Fire of London.

The other famous project in which Jones was involved was the ambitious Covent Garden. Here he was commissioned by the Duke of Bedford to build a residential square along the lines of an Italian piazza.

The Duke felt obliged to provide a church, though he cautrioned Jones that he wanted to economise. He told his architect to simply erect a "barn". Jones' oft-quoted response was that his lordship would have "the finest barn in Europe". Sadly, little remains of the original church, and the square has been remodeled several times. For many years it served as London's chief produce market, though now it is given over to very trendy shopping.

For many years Jones was thought to have been responsible for the work at Wilton House, Wiltshire. This is now believed to be the work of his pupil and nephew James Webb. Many years later the Italian influence that Jones introduced to Britain was revived by Lord Burlington and the Palladian movement. Inigo Jones died in 1652.

What to see:
Banqueting House, Whitehall
Queen's House, Greenwich
Covent Garden
Marlborough House Chapel
Wilton House