Category: Wren Challenge

Wren Challenge: ongoing

Wren Challenge: ongoing

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This is a project I created to improve my sketching skills, analyse historical, resilient buildings and engage with the history of London architecture..

Christopher Wren may be most famous for his design of the new St Paul’s Cathedral after the old one was destroyed in London’s Great Fire of 1666, but the architect and engineer was already an experienced church designer by the time he took that challenge on. Twenty two Wren-designed buildings still stand in London today, of which fifteen are churches located mostly in the Square Mile.

I wanted to capture Wren’s genius with an ongoing project to locate, observe and draw his buildings. Having stood the test of time, I believe they really showcase what good civil engineering should look like – robust, safe, human-scale and adapted to the needs of those who use it.

Wren lived and designed in a different century, but took pride in using what resources were available in his time. Today’s civil engineers may be pioneering low-carbon concrete and solar-energy-collecting windows instead of stone and glass, but we should emulate Wren’s approaches, because city dwellers still ultimately want their buildings to be fit-for-purpose, future-proof and beautiful.

St Mary Aldermary, City of London

St Mary Aldermary, City of London

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This church was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London when it was severely damaged. For Wren, the Gothic style makes this one of his more unique designs. I was particularly intrigued by the tower, which retains the blockiness of many of Wren’s churches yet is mellowed out by the classic Gothic arches of the windows and octagonal turrets. I’ve chosen to sketch that here.

St Mary le Bow, City of London

St Mary le Bow, City of London

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Exquisite stained glass is the centrepiece on entering. I appreciate the little circular windows towards the top of the facade; they make you feel like you’re on a ship. They let light in, but their height makes it impossible to see out – reminding worshippers of their smallness. In religious terms, this perhaps indicates the almighty power of God, and to non-religious observers like me, the power of the planet and the hugeness of the universe.

From a construction perspective, the main advantage of such a window placement is that the glass does not have to hold any weight – this structure would hold up just fine even if the glass were damaged – the stone walls and arched ceiling form the essential structural elements. Modern glass-facaded buildings use a ‘curtain wall technique’, where again the glass doesn’t hold any weight, but instead of a massive stone outer structure, the building is supported by internal columns, beams and braces made of steel and reinforced concrete. The disadvantage being, of course, the loss of an unbroken internal space, a key component in many of Wren’s churches.

^ stained glass visible on entry
^ high-up window placement
^ the tower from the outside; on the right, the facade with the little circular windows
St Lawrence Jewry, City of London

St Lawrence Jewry, City of London

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Missable from the street – you’d easily wander past this one. But tucked away behind the buzz of the City, the people and their pints and their suits, stands a huge expanse of courtyard. Empty and flat, the pale stone transports us to southern Europe; it feels almost Milanese. Yet the roughness of the church bricks brings in that earthy British tone. There the church stands, spire up into the sky on this strange island of peace in inner London.

St Lawrence Jewry has a very familiar style – very much a main block with a sloping roof, with a tower about double the height, also rectangular, on one end. Unfortunately I was unable to go inside this church to examine the structure in more detail.

The church was actually rebuilt after extensive damage during the Blitz, but the architect Cecil Brown stuck to Wren’s initial design.

^ the view into the courtyard; the facade of St Lawrence Jewry is the building on the very right and in the centre is Guildhall
^ quick sketch-up showing familiar Wren style

On the other side of the courtyard stands another church-like building, which is actually Guildhall, the HQ for the City of London Corporation.

Chelsea Royal Hospital, Chelsea

Chelsea Royal Hospital, Chelsea

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Today, this complex acts as a retirement and care home, but it has housed a range of other groups including ware veterans in the past. It is generally regarded as a luxury home for the mostly upper classes, and only admitted women in 2009.

The courtyard reminded me most of an Oxford college – in particular the Queen’s college – with its distinctive symetrical windows and neatly kept grass.

I decided to use two-point perspective as a sketching technique for this because it felt appropriate to the building scale and shape.

^ Chelsea Royal Hospital in two-point perspective
^ Queen’s College, Oxford, for reference
^ Queen’s College, Oxford, for reference

In more detail, I did a close-up sketch of the entrance in the middle of the courtyard. The neoclassical influence is very distinctive here.