Elevation of the central stall canopy on the north side, with part of the adjoining stalls to the east, and a separate elevation of the end of the stalls in front of the eastern arcade pier

WRE/4/1/13

c.1693

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Nicholas (c.1662–1736) Hawksmoor

Pen and brown ink over pencil under-drawing, with grey wash and amendments in pencil. Thick laid paper. 37.1 x 50.8 cm. Countermark: PVL

Two part-elevations of the east bay of the choir stalls on the north side, showing the central stall with two-and-a-half adjoining stalls, and the end portion of the stalls in front of the arcade pier, including the two lowest steps across the central aisle in section. Drawn by Hawksmoor. Datable c.1693. Drawn scale, 2 ft to 1 inch, across one bay of the stalls. Although showing the north side, the equivalent bays on the south side were identically planned before the addition of a separate Bishop’s Throne to the design, a change that entailed raising the floor of the narrow bay from two to three steps above the floor of the choir, to bring it level with the floor of the lower stalls (see WRE/4/1/5). On this drawing the narrow bay is only two steps up from the choir floor and the lower stalls are one step higher. This arrangement is found on the All Souls plan (Geraghty 2007, no.93). The drawing is the only one from Wren’s office to show the retractable bench seats for additional seating that were contained within low bench-plinths at the bases of the lower stalls on both long sides. Robert Trevitt’s view of the choir shows these bench-plinths and one bench partly drawn out from it on the choir floor (Wren Society 14, pl.21). It is not clear how many bench seats were fitted. Payments were made in the three months from December 1695 to Edward Sherlock for a total of 44 ‘Lignum Vitae Wheels and Steel-spindles for the Drawing Seats in the Choir’ (Wren Society 15, p.5), but only 42 are shown in their drawn-out positions in a survey plan by Penrose in the late 1850s (Wren Society 16, pl.10). The benches were removed without trace when the choir was reordered in the early 1870s. Hawksmoor drew the handles of the bench ends in pencil and wrote in ink, bottom left, referring to ‘A’ in the plinth beneath the central stall, ‘A One middle bench’. This was an instruction for a single retractable bench at position ‘A’, in place of the two benches shown either side. The drawing was probably preparatory for the large-scale wooden model of one bay of the choir enclosure, built by Charles Hopson probably in mid-1693, and preserved in a fragmentary state in the Trophy Room (he submitted his final account in August 1696; Wren Society 15, p.11). It has recesses for two benches beneath these central stalls, rather than the single bench indicated by Hawksmoor’s note. Two benches were installed in this position. Beneath the main canopy of the central stall Hawksmoor added brackets to carry the pediment and lengthened the panel of the upper aedicule (as a field for sculptural display) by removing the running parapet moulding in his preparatory study, WRE/4/1/12. At the right end he sketched in pencil and then deleted a projecting cornice, and added railings for the steps to both levels (unexecuted). Next to the central stall, he narrowed the steps in pencil to just over one bay wide. This change indicates that the drawing dates after the two plans of a choir bay, WRE/4/1/6 and 7, but before the All Souls plan, where the steps are narrower, although not as finally built (Geraghty 2007, no.93). Hopson’s wooden model has the wider steps shown in WRE/4/1/6 and 7 and therefore predates the revision on this drawing.

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.

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WRE/4/2/1, WRE/4/2/3, WRE/4/2/5, WRE/4/2/6, WRE/4/2/8