St. Paul's Cathedral

The cathedral of London, dedicated to Paul the apostle, was originally built in circa 886, on Ludgate Hill, which is the highest point in the city of London.

The episcopal see was actually founded as early as 604, but the location of the first cathedral is not known.

The church on Ludgate Hill was destroyed in 962 due to fire. It is assumed that the church was built in wood. The next cathedral was begun in 962, possibly in stone. However, this structure also succumbed to fire, in 1087.

A Norman style cathedral was begun shortly after the fire, and it is this structure, though heavily modified, which was destroyed in the famous fire of 1666. The new church was completed in 1314. In the meantime, work was delayed by another fire in 1135.

The choir, added in the 1250s, was in the gothic style. The nave and transepts however, were Romanesque and initially built with a timber roof.

Once completed, the cathedral attained a full length of 178 metres. The central spire reached the height of 149 metres in the years 1444 to 1561. Always vulnerable to lightening strikes, no further efforts to rebuild the spire took place after that year.

Inigo Jones, the man credited as the first English architect to introduce classical architecture to Britain, produced a proposal for a re-design of the cathedral’s west front in 1620.

The cathedral had been in bad shape since Elizabethan times, but funds were not immediately available. In 1634, however, Jones was appointed surveyor of a commission to repair St. Paul’s.

Jones restored the gothic choir without alterations, but encased the rest of the structure in rusticated masonry. The biggest change was at the west front, where Jones added a 10-column wide portico surmounted with statues. The model for this was probably Palladio’s drawings of the Roman temple of the Sun and Moon, now believed to have been dedicated to Venus and Rome. One of the towers of the west front originally belonged to the adjacent church of St. Gregory by St. Paul’s. A second tower was added for the sake of symmetry.

Jones travelled to Italy and became influenced by the works of Andrea Palladio. He also got the opportunity to study Roman ruins. What is noteworthy in the case of Jones is that he rejected modern architectural trends (mannerism/baroque) in favour of a relatively pure classical style, which approximated ancient Roman buildings. This tendency had a profound impact on 18th century English architecture and also decided the basic theme for Christopher Wren’s cathedral.

Jones’ restoration was interrupted by the civil war, during which some damages was inflicted on the building. A commission was therefore set up to undertake repairs and restoration in 1663. Three individual assessments were solicited, including one from Christopher Wren.

The weakest point of the structure was the central tower. Wren, therefore, proposed to tear it down and replace it with a tall dome over the crossing.  The design of the dome seems to have been inspired by Bramante’s proposal for St. Peter’s, which Wren likely knew through drawings. There are also some signs of French influence. Paris was the only foreign city Wren actually visited.

The rest of the structure was to be encased in masonry, “after the good Roman manner”, on the same lines as Jones’ project. Wren’s proposal was agreed in principle in August 1666. Only six days later, the great fire of London began.

By 1668, the issue of what to do with the cathedral had become more pressing than ever. However, the hope in that year was still to retain the nave. Wren was initially only instructed to demolish the choir and central tower. Only after parts of the nave collapsed in April were the authorities persuaded to build an entirely new church.

Wren produced several drawings in the period leading up to the Great Model in 1673. He seems to have experimented with two basic outlines: One scheme, which Wren gradually rejected, kept the outline of the old church and was fairly similar to the 1666 proposal, with a domed space above the crossing and the rest of the church in Roman masonry. Wren also seems to have wanted to keep the portico, which had been added to the west front by Inigo Jones.

The second scheme introduced the Greek cross plan, and is what Wren eventually came to favour. Designs usually feature a pedimented portico on the west front and a large dome over the central space. The precedent for this outline comes from Bramante’s and/or Michelangelo’s plans for St. Peter’s Basilica. Interestingly, Wren who was familiar with French architecture looked to primarily to Roman models. Most likely, this was due to the influence of Jones and architectural treatises.

Wren produced several drawings but the Great Model shows the project at its most mature stage.   The exterior and interior has a Corinthian order, as does the portico, and the large dome resembles Sangallo’s design for St. Peter’s. Unlike previous drawings, there is a domed vestibule in the west, which gives the model the outward appearance of being directional. The pediments at the transepts are broken by arches, adding a touch of mannerism. The model was made by the joiner William Cleere.

However, the Greek plan was rejected by church authorities. In the warrant design that Wren produced and got approved in 1675, he, therefore, reverted to a directional Latin Cross plan. The warrant design appears to be an attempt to reconcile classical elements with the outline of what an English public might expect of a cathedral: more height for the body of the building and an imposing tower and spire.

The result looked very strange, and Wren began to revise his plans as soon construction began. However, the concept of combining classical features with patterns borrowed from gothic churches remained.

The first change was to reintroduce the dome. However, this caused some difficulties, because it had too be tall enough to meet the expectations for a London landmark, yet not so large as to overwhelm the relatively small body of the building itself. It can be seen from the Great Model how this might look awkward.

The solution was to raise the second storey introduced in the warrant design and build a screen wall around the entirety of the structure. This also had the added advantage of hiding away flying buttresses. This is why the external walls of St. Paul’s do not recede inwards at the level of the clerestory. The west front portico was elevated to two levels and towers were introduced to hide the sham wall. Difficulties with lighting the interior through two external walls seem to have been effectively overcome.

It was also around 1675 that Wren redesigned the transept elevations, with huge circular porticos. To this would later be added broken pediments and pilasters decorated with strips of garlands, showing signs of both French and Italian baroque architecture.

The penultimate design of 1675 conforms approximately to the finished result. However, two elements were still in development, the western towers and the dome.

In 1683, Wren seems to have experimented with French designs, resembling closely the domes of Mansart and Lemercier. However, by the time construction of the dome began in 1700, he had switched to what is essentially Bramante’s Tempietto on a massive scale.  Wren filled in every fourth inter-columnation with an empty niche to retain harmony. The difference this produces can be seen by comparing with the Pantheon in Paris where no such expedient is used.

The dome has three shells, one semi-circular seen from the interior (in brickwork), one cone-shaped to support the weight of the lantern (also in brickwork), and one outer wood and lead structure to give the external silhouette.

For the towers, Wren moved in the opposite direction, away from the classical simplicity of Bramante towards a baroque complexity similar in style to Borromini.

The cathedral was structurally complete in 1709. Some of the later work was done without the authorisation of Wren. He was dismissed from his post in 1718 in a Churchill-like vote of no confidence.

YMCA, Tottenham Court Road, London

This image aims to visualise a rebuilding in Tottenham Court Road (112 Great Russell Street). I believe the present YMCA structure was built in 1976. The previous building was completed in 1912.

Johanneskirken, Oslo

Johanneskirken was a church in central Oslo, built on the city's oldest surviving square: Christiania Torv. It was built in 1875 and demolished in 1930. The church had issues with poor foundations since the beginning and was closed for safety reasons. The plot was used by a petrol station for much of the 20th century, but it was replaced with a post-modern business complex in 1996. The plot also contained a church in the period between 1639 to 1686, which at the time was the city's cathedral. The architect for Johanneskirken was Georg Bull. 

The image above is an attempt to visualise how the church might look if it was still standing today. 

For more information about historic Oslo, buy my book, Det Tapte Kristiania, here.

St. Peter's Basilica: Sangallo

St Peter’s basilica was still a demolition site when Bramante passed away in 1514. The architect had had been relieved from his duties the year before when his patron Pope Julius died. Since then, the project had passed through a number of hands: Raphael, Fra Giocondo and Baldassare Peruzzi. However, it was the powerful Florentine family of architects and engineers, da Sangallo, which would finally be entrusted with the future development of the project.

In fact, the pope’s chief architect had originally been a member of the family. At the time that Bramante’s project was chosen, Giuliano da Sangallo had been so confident of winning the commission that he prematurely moved his entire family to Rome. He was called back a decade later in 1514, but only lived long enough to see 18 months on the job.

However, as Raphael died in 1520 at the age of 37 and as Peruzzi eventually fell off after the sack of Rome in 1527, his nephew Antonio da Sangallo the younger gradually became the new capo maestro.

In 1539, Pope Paul III commissioned a modelling wood, which can still be seen in the Vatican Museum today. It shows the direction of Sangallo’s ideas and also sums up many of the turnarounds in the project that had occurred over the last three decades since the original inception. For instance, whether to choose a Greek or a Latin cross plan was a point every new architect seemed destined to reverse.

Sangallo produced something of a hybrid, though its outward appearance is clearly directional. With the dominant front towers, the facade appears more like a classical take on a gothic cathedral than an Italian basilica. This may have been chosen to give back a sense of monumental scale after making the dome recede from the west front.

On all sides of the structure da Sangallo placed a series of arches between engaged columns supporting an entablature, a concept that had been used on modern buildings in modified form by Bramante and Alberti, but which is ultimately derived from the Coliseum or Theatre Marcellus.

As such, especially when contrasted with the later amendments by Michelangelo, da Sangallo appears as a late high renaissance rather than mannerist artist. At the same time as Michelangelo was developing the double order, da Sangallo stuck with a more orthodox formula. The same contrast can be seen in the Farnese palace, which was also later modified by Michelangelo. As projected by da Sangallo, the building would have been a classically conscious and correct rendition of a Florentine palazzo. Subtly though it appears, Michelangelo turned to contrast where da Sangallo sought regularity and harmony.

Despite this, Sangallo’s St. Peter’s appears cluttered in style and structurally complex.

Antonio da Sangallo the younger died in Florence in 1546 and the project passed to a reluctant Michelangelo.

New Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London

The Gaiety Theatre was originally established in 1864 as the Strand Musick Hall. The first building was demolished in 1903 to make way for the Edwardian re-development of Aldwych-Kingsway and to accommodate the widening of the Strand. The New Gaiety Theatre opened the same year. The theatre closed in 1939 and never reopened. It was demolished in 1956, due to structural damage received from the war, attempts at refurbishment were abandoned. A new luxury hotel is currently being constructed on the plot, The Silken hotel.

As with most of the earliest buildings of Aldwych-Kingsway, the theatre was built in a rather fanciful interpretation of the French Beaux-Arts style.

The Louvre: Le Vau and Perrault

The completion of the Louvre courtyard was begun during the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, but was abruptly abandoned when the royal court moved to Versailles.

Some of the facades were at least partially completed but the actual structures were left unfinished and some parts were not even roofed. It was only when Napoleon came to power that the final pieces came into place.

Development proceeded in fits and starts even in the late 17th century. Louis le Vau was officially the king's architect and successor to Lemercier, but much of his efforts were undone only a few years after they were first completed.

Le Vau initially began by following the pattern set by Lescot and Lemercier. As the latter had done with the west wing, le Vau placed a domed pavilion at the centre of the river front and extended the wing by duplicating the existing facade by Lescot. He also copied Lescot's original corner pavilion to maintain symmetry.

However, unlike the central pavilion of Lemercier’s west front, which was quite plain and remained so until the late 1850s, le Vau used engaged corinthian columns across the ground and first floors. These were topped with statues in a manner employed by le Vau elsewhere, such as at the garden front of Vaux-le-vicomte.

In introducing orders on the Louvre’s river front, le Vau established a new precedent. It seems safe to assume that his purpose was to create a counterpoint to the College des Quatre-Nations, which the same architect had built on the opposite side of the river. We know that le Vau planned a bridge as part of this urban set-piece, but the current Pont des Arts is from 1984 and the earliest bridge at this location was completed in 1804.

Le Vau also began work on the north and east wings and made substantial changes to the Petite Galerie and Tuileries Palace.

However, in 1664 Jean-Baptiste Colbert was named superintendent of royal buildings and ordered le Vau to halt construction. The task of completing the palace was then opened up to other architects, including the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini who was invited to Paris in 1665.

The main concern was the design of the east front, which was considered the most important as the main facade toward the city. After a bit of the toing and froing, a project designed by committee; including Louis le Vau,  Claude Perrault and Charles le Brun; was approved. The committee had presented two projects, one of which included a colonnade. The latter was chosen and construction began in 1667.

Most of the colonnade had been built by 1670 and some of the decorative work was completed in the period up to 1678, including the corinthian capitals of the columns. The central pediment was installed in 1672-74 and was supposed to be surmounted with a statue of Louis XIV and two allegorical deities. Most of the statuary and relief work was not completed during this period, however. Jacques-Germain Soufflot proposed a design for the pediment in 1757 but it was only in 1808 that a project actually came to fruition. The design by Francois Lemot contained a bust of Napoleon, which was later replaced with one of Louis XIV. The relief over the arch was done by Pierre Cartellier in 1810.

The monogram for Louis XIV was two mirrored Ls but the originals were removed during the revolution and later replaced with N for Napoleon. This was then changed back after the Bourbon restoration, though some are still accompanied by a bee, which was a symbol of Napoleon. The double LL can also be seen on the south and north fronts.

Le Vau died in 1670 and was busy with the design of Versailles during the last years of life. Colbert also seems to have favoured Perrault from the start, and he therefore quickly became the lead on the project. One of his first new proposals was to introduce a full top story on the courtyard of the east wing.

Perrault had apparently intended to use a new order for capitals, which he had invented and named the French order. This was necessary to respect the rules of classicism, which proscribed that none of the existing orders could be used above the Composite. The latter had already been used on the first floor. However, a conventional Corinthian was used when the courtyard facade was restored and repaired in 1757-59. The colonnade also had to be repaired during this period after decades of neglect  and it was even at one point considered to tear the whole wing down and build anew. The relief in the pediment on the courtyard was done by Guillaume Coustou, but was modified to remove its royal symbol during the revolution.

The Colonnade was not only taller than the three other wings of the courtyard but was also longer, which created a mis-match with the north and south fronts. Perrault, therefore, proposed to extend the width of the south wing and produced a new design to replace the earlier one by le Vau.

The new facade was initially just a screen in front of the existing building. The design is similar to the colonnade but uses pilasters instead of columns in the round. The decoration of the central pediment was completed in 1809 by sculptor Auguste Fortin. The relief work below was completed in the same year and originally featured a bust of Napoleon. This was later replaced with a helmet of Minerva.

Le Vau had continued Pierre Lescot's design on the courtyard, which included attic storeys, but this was replaced with a new full top storey in 1806.

The north front was the last of Perrault's designs to be completed. Jacques-Germain Soufflot had worked on the passageway in the 18th century but it was only during Napoleon's time that the facade was brought to completion. Unlike the south wing, the north was never widened on the basis that the discrepancy wouldn't be as noticeable due to the proximity of neighbouring buildings.

The decoration of the main pediment was completed just after the fall of Napoleon, by a sculptor named Montpellier in 1815.

  

The Louvre: Lemercier

After the death of Henri II in 1559, the development of the Louvre took a new direction, and it wasn't until 1625 that work on the courtyard resumed. 

The architect chosen for the job was Jacques Lemercier. In order to enlarge the courtyard, Lemercier first created a central pavilion. This was later named Pavillon d'Horloge after a clock that was inserted into the facade.

One of the most notable features of the pavilion are the caryatids, which were sculpted by Gilles Guerin and Philippe de Buyster in 1638, to a design by Jacques Sarrazin. The choice was probably made to respect one of the rules of classicism, which prescribed that no order should be used above the composite. Lescot had used this order on the first floor and Lemercier therefore had to come up with some other form of decoration. It is also a likely nod to Lescot's Salle des Caryatides on the ground floor of the Lescot wing, where caryatids were first used to decorate a musicians' gallery.

The caryatids support a series of pediments: a triangular within a segmental within a triangular. Similar motifs can be found in mannerist architecture in Italy, as for example in Michelangelo's Porta Pia in Rome. The composition also includes sculpture of two winged female figures. These are Greek allegorical deities representing fame, known in French as Rennommées. Like the caryatids, they were sculpted by Guerin and de Buyster in 1638, to a design by Sarrazin.

The pavilion also introduces the first toit a l'imperiale, which is a kind of bulbous dome.

Louis XIII left his signature on the frieze on the first floor and on the keystone of the central arch on the ground floor. The letter on the ground floor is a double-Lambda, which is the Greek equivalent of a Latin L. On the first floor, the L is interlaced with an A for his queen Anne of Austria.

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For the extension of the west wing, which has since been named after the architect, Lemercier duplicated Lescot's design and added a pavilion at the northwest corner. Pavillon de Beauvais was originally built to the same design as Lescot's Pavillon du Roi, though both have since been removed from the skyline.

While there was a lag of over ten years before sculpture was added to the central pavilion, it took almost two hundred years before the decoration was completed on the Lemercier wing. The relief work in the attic is dated to 1806 and the ground floor to 1820-23. The one exception is around the oeil-de-boeuf nearest Pavillon de Beauvais. This motif is by Gerard van Opstal and was done in 1638.  The statues in the niches of the ground floor are from 1866-74.

The west front of the central pavilion is usually referred to as Pavillon Sully. Originally quite plain, it was covered in relief sculpture in the late 1850s.

For more information on the Louvre, see the following links: http://mexichino-jr.blogspot.com/2011/03/lescot-wing.html