Saint Magnus The Martyr Church
Wren, Christopher
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Alternative Title
St. Magnus
Date
1671-1684Description
North elevation with round windows; The first church lost to the Great Fire was St. Margaret New Fish Street; it was not rebuilt, the parish being united with St. Magnus and the site given to The Monument, which stands 202 feet to the east of the spot where the fire began. St. Magnus was one of 51 parish churches rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren and his office after the Great Fire. The work spanned 1671-1684, but was substantially complete by 1676; at £9579 19s 10d, it was one of his most expensive churches. Although the model for the steeple was probably made by 1684 (very closely based on that of St. Charles Borromée by François Aiguillon in Antwerp), it was only completed in 1703-1706. Rebuilding after another fire of 1760 coincided with the last major renovation of old London Bridge, which saw the demolition of its shops and houses, and the expansion of pedestrian access literally through the west end of the church: two of its nine bays were demolished, and the tower base converted to an external porch pierced by arches to create a path between Fish Street Hill and the bridge (possibly to designs by George Dance the Elder, the City Surveyor). The building now stands 90 ft (27 m) long, 59 ft (18 m) wide and 41 ft (12.5 m) high, with a 185 ft (56 m) steeple. Source: City of London, The Monument [website]; http://www.themonument.info/ (accessed 6/13/2009)
Type of Work
churchSubject
architectural exteriors, Great Fire, London, England, 1666, Seventeenth century, Neoclassical
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only