Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 63.djvu/115

 St. James's, Garlickhithe, has both a well-planned interior and a picturesque steeple, not improved by the cement having been stripped off the walls of the tower. The stone steeple of St. Mary Magdalene, recently taken down, though very simple, was one of Wren's most graceful campaniles. The elegant lead-covered spire of St. Martin's, Ludgate Hill, forms an admirable foreground object to the views of St. Paul's from the west. The front of this church is an example of quiet well-proportioned treatment where no projection was allowable. The spire of St. Augustin's in Watling Street, though less elegant than St. Martin's, has something of the same value, contrasting with the dome of St. Paul's as seen from the east. St. James's, Westminster, may be cited as the most successful example of a church in which galleries form a fundamental part. Its congregational capacity is remarkable, and the framing of the roof is a marvellous piece of economic and scientific construction. In the next period, St. Mary Abchurch, externally very plain, is full of merit within, especially the cupola and its pendentives and other details of the interior, including some excellent carvings by Gibbons. St. Andrew's, Holborn, exhibits a very fine interior, partaking to a considerable extent of the character of St. James's, Westminster. Of the churches built between 1690 and 1695 St. Michael Royal deserves mention for its beautiful campanile and for the carvings by Gibbons in the interior. The tower of St. Mary Somerset is still left standing, after the demolition of the church, on the north side of Thames Street, and forms with its crown of pinnacles an extremely picturesque object. The fine steeple of St. Vedast, near the General Post Office, is of this period. Its design is the most original of all Wren's campaniles. It owes nothing to sculpture or any ornate architectural treatment; but such is the skilful modulation of the masses and the contrasts of light and shade, combined with the expression of strength, that it requires no assistance from ornament to add to its beauty and importance. This fine object has the advantage of being well seen. The steeple of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East dates from 1700. It is built in the Gothic style, and in a form which follows the precedent of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, and St. Nicholas's, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. At this period of Wren's professional life, as evidenced by this work and the church of St. Mary Aldermary, built in 1711, as well as in his repairs of Westminster Abbey, he shows an appreciation of Gothic architecture which he evidently did not entertain so strongly in his earlier days. In the work at St. Dunstan's there is much true feeling for the style in which he was working. That the spire was constructed in a highly scientific manner does not need to be stated. In the fine steeple of St. Magnus, built in 1705, he returned to his more recent style and produced one of his finest examples. Lastly, the old tower of St. Michael's, Cornhill, which had been left standing when he rebuilt the church fifty years earlier, was taken down in 1722 and reconstructed in bold and very effective Gothic from his designs. In all the above-mentioned beautiful campaniles, and indeed in Wren's works in general, surface ornament forms but a very subordinate part of their success; this is derived chiefly from the true elements of architecture, balance of light and shade, evident strength and security of construction, accurate proportions of the parts, and the expression of the object of the structure. He shows also great reserve and does not fritter expense away.

In 1698 Wren was appointed surveyor to Westminster Abbey, and proceeded to carry out very important repairs to that fabric. ‘Parentalia’ (p. 296) gives his extremely able and valuable report to Dean Atterbury, dated 1714—partly historical, the repairs being included which had been executed during the previous sixteen years, and partly on works proposed to be done. He built the central tower, as we see it, sufficiently high to stop the cross roofs. He made a model, which is preserved, though in bad condition, in the abbey; it shows the height to which he intended to carry up the tower, and proves that it should have been surmounted by a lofty spire, of an unusual number of sides indeed, but of well-proportioned outline. He had carefully considered how this additional weight was to be carried. This part of the proposal has not been proceeded with, but the western towers, which formed part of the project, have been built, but not as he intended. Of these works he says in the report: ‘I have prepared perfect draughts and models such as I conceive will agree with the original scheme of the old architect without any modern mixtures of my own inventions’ (Parentalia, p. 297). Unhappily after Wren's death his successors did not adhere to this wise and loyal resolution, and it is easy to see where the master-hand finishes and where the modern mixtures of incongruous detail obtrude themselves. The fine general proportion of the towers is alone Wren's.

At an earlier date, about 1675, he had built in Roman Doric the library which forms the north side of the cloister of