Exterior of the western body, portico and narthex, c.1685–c.1695

WRE/3/3

17 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 The accession of James II in early February 1685 was a turning point in the history of the design of the cathedral (see Section 3, Introduction). By April 1686 \lquote new foundations\rquote were being laid by Edward Strong and his team on the north side, beyond the third bay of the nave, and the dimensions of the west front would have been fixed (Wren Society 14, pp.5, 12-13). Most of the drawings in this section can be dated before then, on the basis of differences between their scaled dimensions and those of the built fabric. Several are preliminary studies in the hand of Nicholas Hawksmoor, who joined the office in 1685 and must have been paid privately for draughtsmanship by Wren, as he was not salaried for this work until 1691.\par \par As built, the west front measures 177 ft wide at church-floor level to the edges of the paired pilasters of the lower tower bays. The lower portico overlaps the inner pairs of pilasters of the tower bays and has six pairs of columns 10 ft wide (4-ft columns with 2-ft gaps), with four 9ft-wide spaces, or intercolumniations, between the outer pairs, and one 11-ft space between the central pairs: a total of 107 ft. The width of the portico is linked to the spacing of the centres of the aisles 78 ft apart, a dimension established by the start of construction in 1675. \par \par One would have expected Wren to have adopted the 78-ft dimension in his earliest designs for the west end but initially he did not do so (see also WRE/3/4). The least accurate drawings for the west end in relation to the built plan are those for a two-storey front with a giant-order portico, WRE/3/3/1-4. These schemes are conceptual in character, lacking basement storeys and western steps. Their tower bays have minimal articulation and are about 1.5 ft wider than built. \par \par The most carefully drawn of these early proposals, WRE/3/3/3, was drawn by Simon Gribelin. It sets a giant, six-column portico in front of the two-storey elevation. In scale and concept it recalls the west front of the Great Model. The corresponding cross-section through the portico, WRE/3/3/4 is also in Gribelin's hand; the technique should be compared with WRE/3/4/17. A dedication to William III and Mary II in the pencilled inscription panel above the great west door has suggested a date for the drawing between 1689 and 1694. However, the dedication was written over the erased line of an earlier inscription. It may have been added in 1689, when construction was about 9 ft above church-floor level at the west end and it was still possible to consider the addition of a giant-order portico. \par \par The lower tower bays were built 45 ft wide to the edges of the pilasters on both sides, and contain large concave window recesses, or \lquote tribunes\rquote . The position of the tribunes was established in two early elevations for the north side of the western body; see WRE/3/3/5 and 8. The evolution of the detailed design of the side elevations of the western body can be observed in WRE/3/3/5, drawn mostly by Hawksmoor. In the upper storey, the pedimented tabernacle frames are set high in the sub-frieze between the upper capitals. This was the starting point for the design of the screen walls around the choir, transept and nave (see WRE/3/2/2). In a second phase of revisions, not represented in drawings for the west end, the tabernacle frame was lowered and the triforium window head redesigned (see WRE/3/1/9 and WRE/3/2/5). \par \par A third phase in the design of the west end involved a change in the design of the upper entablature from a Corinthian to a Composite form. In the revised version, large consoles brackets in the frieze rise to modillion blocks beneath the corona of the cornice. These blocks serve to reduce the depth of the corona moulding while maintaining the overall projection of the cornice; see WRE/3/3/12. About nine drawings with this type of upper entablature are datable before the start of work at the west end in March-April 1686; see WRE/3/3/13, 15 and WRE/3/4/9-15. \cf0\b\f1\par }

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