1666 Great Fire

Dutch School 1675

Plague

Average Mortality ~5 times normalRich/Poor

1563 1.401593 0.951603 0.881625 0.791665 0.60

Great Fire−Spread

Thomas Faryner's bakehouse/ Pudding Lane

320 Years Later

June 10, 1986

Immediate Responses

• Demolish houses to create firebreaks– Mayor Bloodworth accused of inaction in

expediting this before order from Charles– Personal supervision and participation by Charles

and James• Call out militia from neighboring shires

Extent

Problems

• Overhanging upper floors• Pitch used as sealant• Hollow walls• Proximity to warehouses storing flammable

materials• Wooden buildings• Poor water supply

Consequences

• 200,000 displaced– To Moorfields and Highgate (north) and Soho

fields (west).• Rents in surviving buildings increase• End of Dutch War• Increased imports of timber; Work for

bricklayers• Growth outside the City

Losses

3,200 housesSt Paul's Cathedral87 parish churches6 chapelsBridewell PrisonNewgate PrisonThe Guildhall

3 City gatesThe Custom House4 stone bridgesSessions HouseThe Royal Exchange52 livery company halls

Rebuilding London

LawPlanning

Architecture

Zoning by DeclarationAny houses to be inhabited by Brewers, or Diers, or

Sugar-Bakers, which Trades by their continual Smoaks contribute very much to the unhealthiness of the adjacent places.

We require the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London upon a ful consideration, and weighing all conveniences and inconveniences that can be foreseen, to propose such a place as may be fit for all those Trades which are carried on by smoak to inhabit together.

Charles II, 1666

Charles II cont.

We resolve that all Streets cannot be of equal breadth, yet none shall be so narrow as to make the passage uneasy or inconvenient.

His Majestie ’s Declaration To His City of LONDON, Upon Occasion of the late Calamity by the lamentable FIRE, 1666

Fire of London Disputes Act 1666

• Special court to settle disputes between landlords and tenant of burnt buildings– Continuing rents– Renegotiating leases– New codes reduce area of stores

Commission

• Christopher Wren • Robert Hooke, Royal Society and Professor of

Geometry at Gresham College • Hugh May, a royal official with experience of

architecture • Roger Pratt, architect • Edward Jerman, City surveyor, carpenter,

architect• Peter Mills, City Surveyor

Rebuilding Act of 1667.

• Ban overhanging fronts• Ban hanging signs (replace by plaques)• New buildings must be brick or stone• Height of buildings dependent on road widths;

road widths specified• Tax on coal to finance rebuilding

Signs

Hammersmith, outside city limits

The Three Kings, 1667

1720

Rebuilding Act of 1670

• Widen certain streets• Rebuild Guildhall, Royal Exchange, Sessions

house in the Old Bailey• Compensation for land taken for these

projects• Inspections before laying foundations

Rebuilding acts

• Require downspouts• Set back window frames 4” from outer walls• Streets to be 14’ wide• Employment of non-London labor permitted

Sewage and Paving Act 1671

• Mayor and commission to be in sole charge • Rebuild roads with side drains• Assessments on wards, fronting properties

including church parishes• Laystalls for waste transfer

Finance

• Initial: 1s/ton coal tax• Contributions from livery companies• Charity in London and elsewhere

– Collected £16,486.92– St. Paul’s brief £7,329.97

Distribution of Charity

Plans

• Richard Newcourt – grid system• Christopher Wren – vistas and widened streets

Richard Newcourt, Grid Plan X

Wren plan, 1744 map based on lost plan X

Plans Gone Agley

• Reconfiguring London is not implemented– Need to acquire rights of way and government

intervention was not used– Political problem of acquiring private land– Private financing

Monuments

Golden Boy of Pye Corner

Where London’s column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies.

Alexander Pope

Insurance Companies

• c. 1681 Insurance Office for Houses at the Royal Exchange

• Fire companies establish their own brigades

• Issue fire marks to identify covered buildings

Insurance

1696 Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society at Tom’s Coffee House

– Mutual society– Fire brigade

After the FireCoffee Houses

Roger Pratt (1620-85)

1658 Coleshill, Berkshire

Edward Jerman (1605-68)

• Master carpenter• Surveyor of City works• Mercer’s Hall• St. Paul’s School• Royal Exchange

Royal Exchange1751 engraving

St. Paul’s School (1670-1822), engraved 1755

Christopher Wren (1632–1723)

Early interest in science and mathematics1657 Chair of astronomy at Gresham CollegeMember of the Royal Society1661 Savilian chair of astronomy, OxfordAdvised on repair of old St. Pauls1669 Surveyor of the King’s Works

1663 Pembroke College Chapel

• For his uncle, bishop of Ely

Wadham College, Oxford

OxfordSheldonian Theatre

1664

Wren−Rebuilding London

1672 Temple Bar

Rebuilding Progress

1667 Report of 700 to 800 rebuilt houses considered an overestimate1668 1450 houses1670 7,000 sites surveyed, 6,000 homes built1676 Entire area rebuilt except for some churches including St. Pauls• 20% or more fewer houses

– Larger homes occupied by merchants and aldermen (aristocrats continue pre-fire move out of City)

New Churches

• Modern (classical) design– Adapt steeple to more horizontal plan– Restricted by existing sites

• More light; better sound• Designed for liturgy using Book of Common

Prayer

1666 St. Paul’s –Pre-fire Design

1670-2 Greek Cross Design

1675 Warrant Design

St. Paul’s – Final Design

• Large central dome• Emphasized central

space• Towers on west

end

St. Paul’s

Wren’s Churches

• Wren designed 51 of the 87 parish churches lost or in need of major repairs– 10 demolished by 1860 Act – 6 demolished to add space for streets and

buildings– 3 destroyed by Blitz

1680 St. Mary-le-Bow

1672-9 St Stephen Walbrook

Interior, St Stephen Walbrook