Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/240

Hawksmoor Gucht, 1716, of the west front, and a plan drawn by Hawksmoor, ‘View of North Front with the Machinery and Section of Trusses and Building,’ engraved by Fourdrinier, published 17 May 1737; ‘Section and Elevation with Machinery’ in, Beverley, p. 313).

Hawksmoor took a large part in carrying out the scheme of building fifty new churches in London at the close of Anne's reign. On the resignation of [q. v.] Hawksmoor, with [q. v.] of Greenwich, was appointed (6 Jan. 1716) surveyor of the fifty new churches. He kept the accounts of the expenditure from 1713 till 1734, and designed at least five or six of the new churches. When the roof of the old church of St. Alphage, Greenwich, fell in (28 Nov. 1710), it was decided that one of the ‘new churches’ should be built for that parish. It was erected from designs by Hawksmoor, 1711–18, and consecrated on 18 Sept. 1718 (engraving by J. Kip, 1714). The old steeple was rebuilt from designs by John James (1730). St. Anne's, Limehouse, also one of ‘the fifty,’ was built from Hawksmoor's designs (1712–24, consecrated 12 Sept. 1730), the turrets on the tower resembling those at All Souls' College. The appearance of the building from a distance has been commended (note by, Walpole, p. 688), despite the strange combination of styles used, and Malcolm's quaint comparison of it to ‘a very large ship … under an easy sail, with a flag flying at her maintop’ (Londinium, ii. 83). The interior was destroyed by fire (29 March 1850), and restored by Philip Hardwick and John Morris between 1851 and 1854 (drawn plans, elevations, and sections in King's Library, British Museum; elevation and section by F. Whishaw, in Gent. Mag. 1828, pt. ii. p. 297;, Architectura Ecclesiastica, pl. xvi.; , London, 1756, p. 1361). The church of St. George's-in-the-East, formerly called Wapping Stepney (1715–23, consecrated 19 July 1729), has been attributed to Hawksmoor and Gibbs (, iii. 479), but was more probably the sole work of Hawksmoor, and a specimen of his ponderous style (working drawings in King's Library, catalogued under ‘St. John's, Wapping;’ plan, elevation, section, and view of west front in and, Public Buildings, ii. 98, &c.; , Archit. Eccles. pl. xlv.; , London, p. 1361; see Grub Street Journal, 11 July 1734, as to ‘style or mode’ in which these two churches are built). The church of St. Mary Woolnoth (1716–19) is generally considered Hawksmoor's best work, the interior being especially fine (working drawings in King's Library; plan, elevation, section, and view of interior in and, i. 94; , pl. lxxxvii.) It was rearranged in 1875–6 by W. Butterfield. Hawksmoor's church of St. George's, Bloomsbury (1720–30, consecrated on 28 Jan. 1731), remarkable as one of the earliest of the churches with porticoes, afterwards so fashionable, has been the object of much criticism, both condemnatory (, Critical Review, pp. 161–2) and eulogistic (Penny Cyclopædia; Builder, 1846, p. 211). The steeple, intended to realise Pliny's description of the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, was described by Walpole (Anecdotes, p. 688) as ‘a masterstroke of absurdity, consisting of an obelisk crowned with the statue of Geo. I, and hugged by the royal supporters’ (plate in, xlv.; , p. 1360; , London and Westminster, pl. lxxvi.) In the King's Library, British Museum, are a drawn plan and elevations of a totally different design. The church was altered in 1871 by G. E. Street, R.A., who removed the side galleries, the old pews, and the lion and unicorn at the base of the steps of the spire. Christ Church, Spitalfields (1723–1729, consecrated 5 July 1729), was probably the last of these ‘fifty churches’ built from Hawksmoor's designs (drawn plans and elevations in the King's Library; engraving of west elevation from drawing by Hawksmoor, published 1795;, pl. xxxiii.; , p. 1351). The interior, having been injured by fire, was restored by Ewan Christian, and the church reopened on 1 Jan. 1867. He made plans of the old church, and new designs for building the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields (1730), which are in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 15506). The designs by [q. v.] were subsequently carried out.

On Wren's death in 1723, Hawksmoor was made surveyor-general of Westminster Abbey, and continued the works at the two western towers. His portion commenced about halfway up the towers, though the whole design probably originated with Wren (plate in Gent. Mag. 1751, p. 580).

He prepared plans for the rebuilding of King's College, Cambridge (1713), endeavouring to preserve the original plan of Henry VI, with its cloister and belfry. Models of the proposed work are now in the library of the college, and a rough sketch of the ground plan is in the King's Library, British Museum (see extracts from the journal and letters of the provost, Dr. Adams, in and, Archit. Hist. of Cambr. i. 557–9). But Hawksmoor's designs were finally rejected in favour of those of Gibbs. Hawksmoor's ‘Drawn Plans of ye Town of Cambridge as it ought to be reformed,’ and of a portion of St. John's