Wren also designed a colonnade to enclose a large piazza forming a clear space around the church, somewhat after the fashion of Bernini's colonnade in front of St. Paul's was laid on the 21st of June 1675 the choir was opened for use on the 2nd of December 1697 and the last stone of the cathedral was set in 1710. The construction of the wooden external dome, and the support of the stone lantern by an inner cone of brickwork, quite independent of either the external or internal dome, are wonderful examples of his constructive ingenuity. As a scientific engineer and practical architect Wren was perhaps more remarkable than as an artistic designer. The present dome and the drum on which it stands, masterpieces of graceful line and harmonious proportion, were very important alterations from the earlier scheme. Peter's in Rome, which is utterly dwarfed by the colossal size of the columns and pilasters of its single order. Wren's earlier designs have the exterior of the church arranged with one order of columns the division of the whole height into two orders was an immense gain in increasing the apparent scale of the whole, and makes the exterior of St. Wren apparently did not himself approve of this second design, for he got the king to give him permission to alter it as much as he liked, without showing models or drawings to anyone, and the actual building bears little resemblance to the approved design, to which it is very superior in almost every possible point. Thus, in spite of its having been approved by the king, this design was happily abandoned - much to Wren's disgust and he prepared another scheme with a similar treatment of a dome crowned by a spire, which in 1675 was ordered to be carried out. But the dean and chapter objected to the absence of a structural choir, nave and aisles, and wished to follow the medieval cathedral arrangement. In plan it is an immense rotunda surrounded by a wide aisle, and approached by a double portico the rotunda is covered with a dome taken from that of the Pantheon in Rome on this a second dome stands, set on a lofty drum, and this second dome is crowned by a tall spire. This first design, the model for which is preserved in the South Kensington Museum, is very inferior to what Wren afterwards devised. From 1668 to 1670 attempts were being made by the chapter to restore the ruined building but Dean Sancroft was anxious to have it wholly rebuilt, and in 1668 he had asked Wren to prepare a design for a wholly new church. In September of the same year (1666) the fire occurred, and the old St Paul's was completely gutted. In May 1666 Wren submitted his report and designs (in the All Souls collection), for this work the old cathedral was in a very ruinous state, and Wren proposed to remodel the greater part, as he said, "after a good Roman manner", and not, "to follow the Gothick Rudeness of the old Design." According to this scheme only the old choir was left the nave and transepts were to be rebuilt after the classical style, with a lofty dome at the crossing - not unlike the plan eventually carried out. Just before the fire Wren was asked by Charles II to prepare a scheme for the restoration of the old St Paul's. It is, however, as an architect that Wren is best known, and the great fire of London, by its destruction of the cathedral and nearly all the city churches, gave Wren a unique opportunity. In 1657 he became professor of astronomy at Gresham College, and in 1660 was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford. While at Oxford Wren distinguished himself in geometry and applied mathematics, and Isaac Newton, in his Principia, speaks very highly of his work as a geometrician. Paul's CathedralĮnglish architect, the son of a clergyman, was born at East Knoyle, Wiltshire, on the 20th of October 1632 he entered at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1646, took his degree in 1650, and in 1653 was made a fellow of All Souls. Paul's Cathedral, London, EnglandĮxecutive summary: Designed St. Birthplace: East Knoyle, Wiltshire, England
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