Sir Christopher Wren

I

Introduction

Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), English architect, scientist, and mathematician. He is best known as the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, as well as many other churches in London, which are designed in a simplified, English version of the Baroque style. He was also a founding member of the Royal Society and, as a scientist, was admired by Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal.

II

Early Career

Wren was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, on October 20, 1632, the son of a clergyman (who was also an amateur scientist). He was educated at Westminster School, where he showed a remarkable talent for science and mathematics. He had already invented numerous scientific devices when he was admitted to Wadham College, Oxford University, in 1649. There his scientific interests developed rapidly and, while still a student, he made several original contributions to mathematics, winning immediate acclaim. In 1653 he became a fellow of All Souls. From 1657 to 1661 he was Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, in the City of London, and in 1661 was appointed Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. He was one of the brilliant generation of scientists who formed the core of the Royal Society.

The Wren family, strongly committed to the Anglican Church, suffered considerably under the Commonwealth but the Restoration of Charles II took Christopher Wren’s already remarkable career in a new direction. The king consulted him as early as 1661 on the repair of the medieval St Paul’s—which had been left virtually derelict after the English Civil War—and Wren produced ideas for remodelling the building.

Up until that time, Wren had shown no practical interest in architecture but thenceforth enthusiastically devoted himself to its study. His earliest work included designs for several new structures in Oxford, such as the Sheldonian Theatre (1664-1669), and in Cambridge, such as Pembroke College Chapel (1663-1665). The designs of this period reflected the classical influence of Inigo Jones.

In 1665, Wren visited Paris to study French Baroque architecture and met such leading European architects as Louis Le Vau, François Mansart, and Gianlorenzo Bernini; these leading exponents of the Italian Baroque style exerted an important influence on Wren’s later work.

III

St Paul’s Cathedral

When the old St Paul’s Cathedral was gutted in the Great Fire of London of 1666, Wren, who in 1669 became Surveyor-General of the King’s Works, was the almost inevitable choice as architect of its replacement. His first developed scheme for the new St Paul’s (1672) took the form of a Greek cross, focused on a great central domed space. The proposals found little favour with the clergy and were superseded by the Warrant Design of 1674-1675, in which a basically medieval plan was clothed in Classical forms.

Although this scheme was that officially authorized for construction, Wren was able, with the king’s backing, to revise it substantially as work began on the site in 1675, producing essentially the building seen today. The plan remained that of a medieval cathedral, with nave, transepts, and choir on a cruciform layout but the dominant feature was a great dome. The cathedral was not completed until 1710 and Wren was able to rework many of the details as work proceeded. The western towers, not built until after 1705, suggest the strong influence of the Italian Baroque, which Wren knew through drawings and whose manifestation he had seen on his visit to France.

IV

Later Secular Works

In 1675, Wren began work on the design of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, which Charles II founded that year. Wren’s royal appointment also gave him the leading role in the construction and repair of the palaces of Whitehall, St James’s, Kensington, and Hampton Court. The latter was greatly extended in 1689-1694. Winchester Palace was begun in 1683 but left unfinished on Charles II’s death.

Wren was appointed Surveyor to Greenwich Hospital in 1696 and was responsible for the spectacular layout (though not all of the buildings) of what is Britain’s most imposing Baroque monument. Chelsea Royal Hospital was constructed in 1682-1692 in a more modest style. The more grandiose of Wren’s public building projects remained unbuilt: England’s constitutional monarchy could not match the architectural achievements of France under Louis XIV.

Although heavily involved in royal commissions and in the rebuilding of London, Wren completed a number of other buildings in Oxford (for example, Tom Tower at Christ Church) and Cambridge—where the library of Trinity College, Cambridge (1676-1684) was a major project. He was also responsible for various private commissions around the country, although he often delegated work to the members of his office. The great house of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire, begun in 1685 for the Fermor family, was completed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, the most brilliant of Wren’s assistants.