Plan and interior of the western body, c.1685–90

WRE/3/4

20 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 extension of the plan westwards in 1685 involved the addition of large chambers behind the towers at church-floor and triforium levels. By about 1695 the chamber on the south side at church-floor level had been allocated to the Consistory Court (the ecclesiastical court of the London Diocese) and that on the north side to the Morning Prayer Chapel (see WRE/4/3). \par \par At triforium level Wren initially intended large library chambers on the north side capable of housing several thousand books. An early plan of the west half of the north side, datable 1685, WRE/3/4/1, shows Hawksmoor sketching a proposal in red chalk for a large library room, about 128 ft long, in the north triforium gallery and another in the adjoining chamber above the north-west chapel. Another early scheme, WRE/3/4/8, unites the triforium gallery and upper chamber in a single galleried library chamber on the north side. The motivation appears to have been the creation of a national library for public use; for in a diary entry dated 13 February 1684, John Evelyn wrote: \lquote & indeede a greate reproch it is, that so great a Citty as Lond: should have never a publique Library becoming it: There ought to be one at S. Paules, the West end of that Church, (if ever finish\rquote d), would be a convenient place\rquote (E.S. de Beer, ed., \i The Diary of John Evelyn\i0 , Oxford 1955, 4, pp.367-68). \par \par Wren quickly revised these early proposals for a large triforium library. Two sets of designs for the triforium spaces, WRE/3/4/2, 11-15, show him restricting the library spaces to the upper chambers on both sides, with access from the Geometrical Stair in the south-west tower. These schemes are datable before the start of work at the west end in about April 1686 as their overall north-south dimensions are up to 2 ft shorter than built. One of them, WRE/3/4/13, includes a belfry chamber at upper mezzanine level in the adjoining north-west tower. This chamber was never built and in 1700 the belfry was raised above the upper entablature (see WRE/6/1).\par \par Much attention was given in the early plans and sections to access to the upper portico and western gallery by stairs in the rear portico wall. A record drawing by Simon Gribelin of alternative plans of the west end, WRE/3/4/3, shows variants for staircases in the rear portico wall: square on the left (as executed) and rectangular one on the right. The right-hand plan corresponds to the Revised design at All Souls, where the floor of the upper portico is level with the top of the lower cornice (Geraghty 2007, nos 80, 82). This scheme was unworkable, as it did not allow for a curved stone vault in the lower portico. The profile of the portico vault is shown in two long sections through the west end, WRE/3/4/9 and 10. \par \par Many drawings show how the square stairwells are linked to two sets of internal flights, straight and L-shaped, that connect them to the upper portico and to galleries around the western vestibule: WRE/3/4/1, 2, 11, 12, 18 and 19. The straight flights connecting the stairwells with the upper portico (see WRE/3/4/2) were begun in the mid-1690s but left incomplete. A single door was built beneath the great west window in 1705. It is shown in Trevitt\rquote s view of the cathedral in 1710, but was removed in December that year (Wren Society 14, pl.42; 15, p.125, 197-98).\cf0\b\f1\par }

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