External elevation of the transept door and portico wall, but omitting the overdoor (mounted with WRE/8/3/1)

WRE/2/4/7

1678

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Unidentified draughtsman (fl.1675–c.1687)

Pen and brown ink over incised lines and pencil under-drawing. Smooth laid paper. 31.9 x 27.9 cm. Countermark: IHS surmounted by cross, over PC (= RC?).

{\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 A revision of the doorcase in WRE/2/4/4 and 5, with a 10-ft opening, but omitting the overdoor and including the wall bays each side. Drawn by the unidentified draughtsman (fl.1675-c.1687). Datable 1678. Drawn scale, just under 4 ft to 1 inch (10 ft = 64.5 mm). \par \par The opening, now 10 ft wide, has been increased from 21 ft 2 inches high in WRE/2/4/4 to nearly 23 ft, about 6 inches more than built. It corresponds to the opening in an elevation of the interior of the transept end, partly in Pearce\rquote s hand, WRE/2/4/10. Matching both these drawings, and belonging to the same phase of revision, is a part-plan of the middle portion of the transept wall, WRE/2/4/8.\par \par The elevation is an early study for the wall bay, for it does not show the small windows in the centres of the walls on each side, immediately above the basement mouldings, which admit light to the crypt. These first appear on near-final half-plan of the transept-end at crypt and church-floor levels, datable 1678-79, WRE/2/4/12. No overdoor panel is shown and there is no indication of sculptural enrichment in the sub-frieze between the Corinthian capitals. The space left between the cornice and the sub-frieze (7 ft 11 inches) is too low to accommodate Pearce\rquote s near-final study for the overdoor panel, WRE/2/4/6, which agrees with the fabric in this dimension (8 ft 6 inches) and must belong to a later stage. \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.

WRE/2/2/6, WRE/2/2/7