Architectural Archive

SPC/SPCAA

1710-2011 (predominantly 1852-2011)

Surveyor to the Fabric, Clerk of the Works

Drawings, papers, reports, photographs and printed items created and generated in connection with the office of the Surveyor to the Fabric. The records document both the day-to-day maintenance of St Paul's Cathedral and specific structural repair, cleaning and decoration projects. They date primarily from the surveyorship of F.C. Penrose (1852-1897) to the present day with one or two exceptions including a plan of the cathedral railings and sewers by William Dickinson dated 1710 and several drawings by C.R. Cockerall (Surveyor, 1819-1852). Subjects include the decoration of the interior during the second half of the nineteenth century, the extension and rearrangement of the choir in the 1870s, the structural reinforcement of the dome in the 1920s, the post-war reconstruction and redesign of the bomb-damaged east end, north transept and Chapter House, and more recent works such as the interior cleaning project. Historic files, photographs and drawings from the Clerk of the Work's office and from consulting engineers and designers are also kept in the architectural archive.

18 plan chests (10 drawers each) of graphic material plus 109 linear metres of textual and photographic material.

Much of the collection was created and remained on site at St Paul's although several of the modern Surveyors, including Bernard Feilden and Robert Potter, retained St Paul's Cathedral project papers at their own offices and transferred them over to the Cathedral after departing from office. Hence there are the occasional "office strays" from other buildings. The papers have been moved and reorganised several times over recent years and this has determined the current arrangement and description.

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Robert (1733 - 1811) Mylne, Charles Robert (1788 - 1863) Cockerell, Francis Cranmer (1817 - 1903) Penrose, George Somers (1841 - 1926) Clarke, Sir Mervyn Edmund (1853 - 1932) Macartney, Walter Godfrey (1891 - 1986) Allen, Lord (1899 - 1963) Mottistone, Paul (1901 - 1985) Paget, Sir Bernard Melchior (1919 - 2008) Feilden, Robert James (1909 - 2010) Potter, Martin John (1944-) Stancliffe, Walter (? - 1921) Bolwell, Edward (1886 - 1956) Bolwell, Charles (1892 - 1966) Linge, Robert (1921 - 1986) Harvey, Martin Fletcher

Building and decoration, Building design, Building maintenance, Postwar reconstruction

Access is strictly by appointment only with the architectural archivist. Material dating from 1990 to the present day is not currently available for public consultation. Some records are subject to a closure period of 75 years under the Data Protection Act.

sub-fonds