446 THE BUILDING NEWS. May 31, 1872.
We have now traced Wren’s interesting and
eventful career down to the year 1666, the anno
mirabilis, when the awful Fire of London suddenly
put anend to all ideas touching the restoration of
old St. Paul's, and gave Wren a tabula rasa for
the exercise of his now matured genius ; but, alas!
that genius was doomed to be still fettered by the
influences of those in power, and at the instigation
of the Duke of York, he was compelled to abandon
his long-cherished plan of a great open Protestant
cathedral, and to devote his mind to the production
of one which must be considered at best but a
beautiful anachronism—viz., a domed church con-
nected with a purely Medieval system of planning,
more suitable, it has been asserted, for the gorgeous
ritual of the Church of Rome than for the Protestant
service. It was not until 1673 than Wren was
commissioned to produce his designs for an edifice
worthy the greatness of the nation, and calculated
to rivalevery edifice of the kind in Europe, but
with the unfortunate proviso that his plan should
conform to the Medieval arrangement which he
himself had been so anxious to set aside, for reasons
before named. In 1674 the workmen began to clear
away the rnins of the ancient Gothic cathedral, ready
for the new foundations. The history of the pulling
or batteringdown of parts of the solid old pile is
one full of interest. The ancient Gothie work,
although.time-worn and decayed, was found to be
tough and obstinate to the last, and we have no
doubt, had it continued until our day, we modern
Goths would have completely restored the old cathe-
dral of S. Paul’s, as much greater ruins have recently
been made fit for worship, and many more may yet
be, if the spirit of the present Gothic revival con-
tinues to spread. We are not about to quarrel with
our architect for what he did, and only regret that
he had not more of his own way in the matter, when
it had been decided that the cathedral should be
rebuilt, for if such had been the case, the late
Thanksgiving service might have been witnessed
by larger crowds with much greater pleasure and
comfort. It is certainly worth while to refer to his
first ground-plan, and see how very careful he has
been to remove all needless impediments either to
sound or sight, even to the extent of piercing the
great piers of the dome, with that end undoubtedly
in view. The first stone of S. Paul’s was laid on
the 21st June, 1675, just twenty years after
Wren’s visit to Paris, and five years after
the completion of the Louvre by Perrault, and in the
facade of which we think wecan trace some resem-
blance to the exterior of S. Paul’s as executed, but
not as first designed by Wren, and over the abandon-
ment of his cherished conception Wren is said to have
shed tears of bitter disappointment. The choir was
finished in October, 1694, and on the 5th December,
1697, divine service was performed for the first time
since the fire of 1666. In the year 1710, when our
architect was seventy-eight years of age, the
highest stone of the lantern on the cupola was laid
by his son Christopher, attended by the venerable
designer, Mr. Strong, the master mason of the build-
ing and the lodge of Freemasons of which Sir
Christopher was for many years the leading spirit.
Forty-four years since the burning of London,
thirty-five since the laying of the first stone had
elapsed, three reigns had terminated, and a dynasty
had been changed and become extinct while this
stately pile had been growing up into the blue
heavens under his magic wand, to become the great
centre and eye of the metropolis, the shrine of the
nation’s hopes and tears, the place of banners
and rejoicing, and the muffled home of the mighty
dead—S. Paul's whose great bell sounds for
royal funerals, and whose massive portals are thrown
wide for courtly crowds, and whose dome and
aisles still echo with the pens of praise and the
songs of thanksgiving. Wren must have felt very
thankful when the topmost stone was laid, after
all his troubles, all the malice of jealous enemies,
and the petty interference of seeming friends, the
account of which fills pages in his biographies, but
which he bore with patience and in silence to the
end.
When funds were low we find him giving £50
out of an annual stiperd of £200 to help to carry
on the works of S. Paul’s. The commissioners
constantly annoyed him with impracticable sugges-
tions for improvements to the design, which in
the first instance they had assisted the Duke of
York to spoil. When we compare 8S. Paul’s with
its great protetype, S. Peter's, we must remember
that Wren, single-handed, built the first in face of
opposition, shortness of funds, and the malice of
enemies, in thirty-five years; whereas the second
was the work of some twenty architects, supported
by the coffers of the whole of Christendom, and
under the patronage and encouragement of nine-
teen sovereign pontiffs.
Had S. Paul’s been the only work of Sir Christopher Wren, while Surveyor-General, to which post he was appointed at the time of the Fire, his skill and assiduity would have astonished us; but when we remember all the other works and duties he was called upon to perform, we are really constrained to say that he was indeed a giant among architects. To enumerate his works would fill a page,—the Monument, Temple Bar, and Chelsea Hospital, with many of the halls of the great companies, were de- signed and built under his direction, as well as some fifty churches and more, all over London, and these while he was actively engaged on S. Paul’s. Of Sir Christopher it has been said that he had so equable a temper that, during a long life, reaching to ninety-one years, he never lost afriend. He was of a social dis- position, and although consumptive in early life, by moderation he managed to reach the above patri- archial term of existence. At the age of eighty-five he was, for some unexplained cause, probably owing to the machinations of foreign adventurers, deprived of the post of Surveyor-General, when he retired to the country, and occupied the six remaining years of his life in reading and religious contemplation. He was buried beneath the glorious dome which his genius had raised—fit sepulchre for kings, and noble resting-place for this king of the gifted sons of art. —_@___—_ ARCH ZOLOGICAL. Hamrsnire Arciw-toLocicar Insrirute’s MEET- 1nG.—This meeting will begin, under the presidency of the Bishop of Winchester, on Thursday, August 1, and terminate on August 8. The presidents of sections will be—Antiquities, Sir Edward Smirke, A.M. ; Architecture, Mr. Beresford Hope, M.P.; and History, Lord Henry Scott, M.P. Amongst the numerous objects of interest to be visited will probably be the venerable relics of Calleva, the capital of the Segon- tiaci, at Silchester, recently disinterred by the munificence of the Duke of Wellington, and eluci- dated by the skill and knowledge of the Rey. J. G. Joyee. Learurersetters’ Hartt.—A history of the Leathersellers’ Company, by the late Mr. W. H. Black, P'.S.A., has just been published. From it we learn that ia 1543 the Company acquired the estate at S. Helen’s, which formerly belonged to the Priory of Benedictine nuns, and they have upon record the fact that in 1560 the olde Halle in London Wall was let on lease to Master Peningtone, at the yearly rent of £9. ‘The Company resolved, on the 29th June, 1613, to have it divided into tenements. These tenements are now represented by the houses num- bered 50 to 55, inclusive, in London Wall. The present hall occupies the site of the refectory, with its capacious vaults, the chambers and dormitories of the prioress and nuns, their garden, and dovecote. The Livery and Yeomanry of the Company con- tributed their benevolence to the building of the Newe Parler, in 1567. The garden was laid out and surrounded by a wall, and a residence was built for the clerk. It would seem, from the proceedings taken by the Company, in 1799, that the building would no longer accommodate the Company, and they therefore determined to rebuild their premises, and on the 14th March the valuable antique fittings were sold by auction, and a new hall erected. This building was destroyed by fire on the 20th August, 1819, when the records of the Company were fortu- nately saved. The first stoneof the present building was laid on the 18th April, 1820, and the building was completed in 1822.
——_—_—+—___—_ COMPETITIONS. Newryeton Missron Caurcu.—tThe design fur- nished in this competition by Mr. Cutts has been selected. The provision is to be for 1,100 sittings, the cost to average about £10 per sitting. We are not aware that any decision has yet been arrived at with reference to the designs for the parish church. We noticed at length the designs in both these competitions in our impression of the 10th inst. SALtrorp.—Eleven designs were submitted in competition for the Branch Library, Regent-road, by the following architects:—Messrs. Wilson & Oldham, Maxwell & Tuke, J. Lorne, H. Lord, Pickup, Maddocks, J. Sherwin, Royle & Bennett, Ely, T. Sington, and Popplewell. The design of Mr. H. Lord was selected by the Committee. ———_>—————_ On Whit Tuesday the chief stone of a new church at Southsea-with- Murrow. The edifice will be of the Early English character, with nave, side aisle, apsidal chancel, and vestry. The design is by Mr. Bwan Christian ; and Mr. Bennett, of Lynn, is the builder, the amount of the contract being £2,000. 3ishop of Bly laid the
BOOKS RECEIVED. Church Architecture. By H. Hupson Hotty, F.A.LA. (The Church Press, Hartford, Conn.). HE different condition of architecture, viewed either as an art or as a mere profession, in the United States, from that which it occupies in this country and on the Continent, can hardly be better estimated than by the perusal of this book. An English architect would find considerable amuse- ment in the idea that was ‘‘made” to help him in his work. It is a peculiar compound of elementary ecclesiastical history, symbolism, the Greek Church, and a host of similar subjects, inseparable apparently, according to Mr. Holly, from the study of architec- gure. There are thirty-five photo-lithographie illus- trations, several of which are borrowed, and none acknowledged. With one—the interior of a library, by Mr. B. J. Talbert—our readers will be tolerably familiar. We think Mr. Holly might have acknow- ledged it, as we did when we reproduced it more than four years since.* We fail to discover anything in the design either of the furniture or the decora- tions which specially fits it for a clergyman’s library: so, however, we find it designated by Mr. Holly. In the early part of the book we find something said about a new style of Gothic, suited to American requirements, which seems, as well as we can make out, to be Italian Gothic, as improved by Mr. Holly. We should like to have known a little more about this new style and its features, but cannot obtain much information from the illustra- tions, and as they may, we suppose, be taken to represent works carried out by Mr. Holly, we imagine the new style as yet exists only in theory. It is impossible to be very severe on a book like this: the plan of the author has evidently been so comprehensive ; he is so gushing, so naive, and so given to poetry on the slightest provocation. We had passed his work by with a few vague marks of respectful admiration had he but described it as “A Work on Everything Connected with Church Building, except Architecture, by G. E. Street, Mr. Ruskin, Lord Macaulay, Bishop Durandus, Mr. Gambier Parry, and others.” We must congratu- late Mr. Holly on the manner in which his pub‘isher has produced the work, and will give him one piece of advice: Re-publish it in a cheaper form in this country, erase his objections to altar lights, advertise it well in the High Church papers, and it will surely sell well among that large class of senti- mental young persons who look upon art asa genteel amusement, and the Christian religion as an agreeable excitement. Air and Rain, the Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology, by Robert Angus Smith, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S. (London: Longmans, Green, & Co.), is the fulfilment of a promise made to the public eight years since by the author. Chemistry up to the present time has not taken its full share in the work of sanitary inquiry and improvement ; it ought, as Dr. Smith remarks, to be able to relieve medical men of much of their heavy responsibility. His own book will certainly aid to bring about this in no small degree. Its purport is to show that there are impurities in an atmosphere which may be dis- covered by chemical analysis, and that the senses and general impressions are not at fault when they testify to the peculiarities of a town atmosphere.— Healthy Houses, a Handbook to the History, Defects, and Remedies, of Drainage, Ventilation, Warming, &c., by Wm. Eassie, C.E., F.L.S., &e. (London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.), is a record of facts, acquired experiences, and published inventions, in relation to house construction, The author had practically experienced the difficulties he seeks to surmount, and the book, published as it is at a cheap rate, is likely to be of service to owners of house property and others.—A Pocket Dictionary of Technical Terms used in Arts and Manufactures, English, German, French (London: Tritbner & Co.), is a wonderfully cheap and handy technical dictionary. A cheap cloth binding would have greatly improved it—The Technical Educator, Vol. III. (Cassell, Petter, & Galpin), has reached us.—The same publishers have also sent copies of their Drawing for Bricklayers, by Ellis A. David- son; one of their technical manuals, and of a cheap sixpenny guide to the International Exhibition.— Railway Travelling Made Easy (Cook & Hammond) is the fourth edition of a cheap and portable map, showing at a glance what station to go to to get to any part of London or the suburbs, It seems hardly up to date; for instance, the new Great Eastern line to Stoke Newington, opened on Monday, is not indicated. _ ae eee
- See BUILDING News, Feb. 7, 1868.
