Colin Amery, Wren’s London

Figure 6: Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, 1590 – 7, Robert Smythson (left) and Figure 7: Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, 1580 – 8, Sir Francis Willoughby (right)

At St Stephen, the use of classical elements is immediately apparent. The central nave is articulated at first by two iterations of slim Corinthian columns on either side of the narthex, with a further two behind them. The central dome is fundamentally supported by eight arches: four primary ones which rest on each pair of columns of the nave, chancel, and transept; and four diagonal ones which rest on individual columns to form a perfect square. Wren’s puzzle of building a dome structure on a rectilinear plan, without the support of piers or the outer walls themselves, had seemingly been solved, if not for the awkward inclusion of clerestoried groin vault behind the diagonal arch.31 This problem would be one which Wren encountered again at St Paul’s Cathedral; therefore, we can assume St Stephen to be a structural ‘rehearsal’ for St Paul’s, given that they were on the drawing board at the same time as each other. The church at first seems to be primarily leaning towards a classical model - one which mirrors the metaphysical principles of harmony of the High Renaissance. Its regular, longitudinal nature, particularly in the horizontal axis, gives the impression of order. Here, Wren draws from Rome and the models of Italian Basilicas. The Church of the Gesù for instance, also places emphasis on clear hearing and sight in its plan32 , and the design of St Stephens undoubtably shows indications of a Roman awareness of virility amongst the clergy. The procession however leads to a spectacular central space – lit by a lantern topped dome, and it is here where the fundamental dichotomy of the church presents itself by producing a second understanding. The central space is defined by the slender columns which add a sense of lightness and illumination, as well as carry the entablature. Although many of Wren’s City churches incorporate somewhat of a restrained version of the Baroque, what St Stephen possessed in its order was certainly not lost in its spirit. The light flooding in from the Cupola and the clerestoried windows bring to life the complex geometry of the interior and reveal Wren’s rhetorical intentions which superseded the ornate richness of the interior. In Rome, Borromini and others used Baroque forms to express the divinity of Catholicism in a dramatic, passionate, and often theatrical manner. For Wren, Geometry was in itself the ‘true order of the universe’33 and a sacred manifestation of God. ‘English’ Baroque as it were, would not have been established in the Architectural vocabulary as a style in its own right until the mature works of Wren had been completed. Nonetheless, a sophisticated awareness of Baroque qualities (undoubtably borne in part from Wren’s trip to France and education on Roman models) can in this way still be detected in the design of St Stephen.

31 John Summerson, Architecture in Britain: 1530 -1830, pg. 187 32 Kerry Downes, The architecture of Wren, pg. 60 33 https://ststephenwalbrook.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/st-stephen-history-booklet.pdf