Designs for the Great Model, 1673

WRE/1

3 drawings

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Microsoft Sans Serif;}{\f1\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 System;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue128;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\cf1\f0\fs20 Wren\rquote s unrealised Great Model, now in the cathedral\rquote s Trophy Room, took about ten months to design from December 1672 to September 1673, and more than a year afterwards to build and decorate. Wren developed the design of the Great Model from the \lquote Greek Cross\rquote scheme, a design at All Souls College, Oxford (Geraghty 2007, nos.52-54) for a monumental, centrally planned cathedral on new foundations, which Wren had prepared soon after presenting his \lquote First Model\rquote to Commissioners in May 1670. This earlier proposal for a long, ten-bay, arcaded choir-auditory and western vestibule, had been planned to meet the requirement of \lquote repair\rquote in the terms of the Commission established by King Charles II in 1663. It would have fitted on the foundations of the east arm and crossing of the pre-Fire cathedral but was considered lacking in grandeur (see Higgott 2004a, pp.186-89).\par \par In the Greek Cross design, a circular choir is placed in one of four equal arms around the dome and each facade has a pedimented portico of six freestanding columns set close to the wall. It was probably this scheme that King Charles II approved as the basis for the Great Model on 16 December 1672. He ordered the construction of a wooden model of the new design so large \lquote that a Man might stand within it, the better to consider all the proportions of the same as well within as without\rquote (Geraghty 2007, p.51). \par \par The vast central circular space in the completed Great Model would have been approached through a portico of giant Corinthian columns and a western vestibule surmounted by a smaller dome. Grand portals would have provided access through the north and south transept fronts. These are the precursors of the transept fronts of the completed cathedral. The choir would have been in the oval space on the east side of the crossing. \par \par No contemporary document records the rejection of the Great Model by the Rebuilding Commission. This is not surprising as the Commission was established by King Charles II on 12 November 1673 to rebuild the cathedral \lquote according to the design and model above mentioned\rquote (that is, the Great Model), which was to \lquote remain as a perpetuall and unchangeable rule and direction for the conduct of the whole Work\rquote (Wren Society 13, pp.26-28). No dissatisfaction with the model was expressed at the Commissioners\rquote first meeting on 11 May 1674, and in this period (1 May to 30 September 1674) carpenters were \lquote waiting upon the Surveyor for measuring and staking out the East Part of the ground of the Church according to the New Model\rquote (ibid., p.204). A decision to set aside the Model as the design on which construction should begin was probably made in the autumn on 1674. The Wren family memoir states that some members of the cathedral\rquote s chapter thought it \lquote not enough of a Cathedral-fashion \'85 to instance particularly, in that, the Quire was design\rquote d Circular\rquote (Parentalia 1750, p.282). It would also have been apparent that the choir could not have been built separately from the supports of the dome. One of the reasons Wren\rquote s revised scheme was commended in the royal warrant of 14 May 1675 was that it could be built in parts, beginning with the choir (see WRE/2).\par \par WRE/1/1 can be dated to the early months of 1673. It represents an early phase in the enlargement of the Greek Cross plan by the addition of a western vestibule beyond the dome, and with towers or pavilions either side of the portico. The west portico gives access to a great west door for ceremonial use, and beyond is a cross-vaulted western vestibule with doors for public entry on the north and south sides. Robert Hooke wrote in his diary on 8 February 1673 that Wren was adding a \lquote library Body and portico\rquote to his designs for the model (ibid., p.51). In this design the \lquote library\rquote would have been in the attic storey of the western body, reached by the stairs in the north-west corner pavilion. In the completed building, the library is at the upper level on the south side of the west end. Two further drawings, WRE/1/2 and WRE/1/3 explore alternatives for the transept ends of the main body. They show Wren modifying the system of regular bays and engaged columns in WRE/1/1 by setting detached columns within a recessed central bay. The recess encloses the transept door and is crowned by an arch which rises into the tympanum of the pediment.\cf0\b\f1\par }

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