Studies leading to the final scheme for a 32-bay dome, c.1691–94

WRE/5/2

6 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 WRE/5/2/1 and 2 are careful studies at 20 ft to 1 inch based on one of the earlier designs, WRE/5/1/7, in which the middle dome is conical. Slots are drawn for wrought-iron chains and in WRE/5/2/2 the peristyle, now with an upper tier of windows, has radial arched bays, as in the Great Model. Pencil studies on this sheet anticipate the 32-bay peristyle in WRE/5/2/3. \par \par WRE/5/2/3 is freehand pencil, grey-wash and ink study, drawn mostly by Hawksmoor. A high, ovoid-shaped inner dome joins with the outer dome to support the lantern, and upper windows in the peristyle admit light to its soffit. Drawn as a revision over the section in brown ink is a lower, hemispherical inner dome. \par \par On the reverse of WRE/5/2/1 is a pencil study at 6 ft to 1 inch which refines the section in WRE/5/2/3. The ovoid inner dome has gone and a beam-like diagonal line suggests a middle structure in timber. WRE/5/2/4 is a pen-and-wash half-section of the same dome up to the top of the external attic, but with a void between this and the inner dome. It embodies a revision in wash and pencil for a higher, more deeply projecting dome entablature above the crossing arches. The first masonry model of this entablature was made in October 1694 (Wren Society 14, p.139). \par \par WRE/5/2/5 sets out the entire plan of the same 32-bay dome over the crossing square but adds radial buttresses behind the outer wall. It does not yet embody the sloping inner wall of the final scheme. \par \par WRE/5/2/6, is a quarter-plan of 1675 reused by Wren and Hawksmoor for eighth-part study-plans between c.1690 and 1694. The lower of these develops the plan in WRE/5/2/5, adding coloured washes to denote differing stone types. It was probably drawn for the \lquote large Modell of 1/8 of the Great Dome\rquote built by Edward Strong\rquote s team in June 1694 (Wren Society 14, p.134). Ink revisions add radial walls with inner wall passages to the bays of the peristyle. These walls appear in early elevational studies for a peristyle with a sloping inner wall; see WRE/5/3/3. They were replaced in the final scheme by radial arches.\cf0\b\f1\par }

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.

sous-série