Wren’s last building
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20316612 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J A Bennett (Clare College, Cambridge), Jonathan Bennett (0000-0002-0195-1022, corresponding author) |
| Editors | Reginald Victor Jones (Clare College, Cambridge), William Drummond MacDonald Paton (Clare College, Cambridge) |
| Year | 1972 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 107-118 |
| Publication date | 1972-08-31 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Notes and Records the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0035-9149 • E-ISSN: 1743-0178 |
| Publisher | The Royal Society (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1098/rsnr.1972.0013 |
| OpenAlex | W2127750864 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
It is well known that the early Fellows of the Royal Society were not altogether happy with their accommodation at Gresham College. Occasionally they discussed plans for a building of their own, a ‘college’ designed for their own particular needs. Certainly with Evelyn, Hooke and Wren as enthusiastic members, there was no shortage, either of architectural skill, or of familiarity with materials, estimates and workmen’s accounts. Did the discussions, combined with such a wealth of talent, produce no tangible results? In particular, did England’s most prolific architect never provide a building for that ‘competent Number of Persons of eminent Learning, Ingenuity, and Honour’ (1)? Wren’s first contribution came in 1668, when Henry Howard was prepared to give the Society a site for a building in the grounds of Arundel House (2). His design was certainly ambitious, but the only definite record we have of it is his description in a letter to Oldenburg (3), since the drawings he enclosed with the letter have been lost. The Wren Society editors have suggested that a drawing in the British Museum might relate to the design (4), but their attribution is disputed (5). It has even been suggested that a building was later completed (at least approximately) according to this design. Thus R. T. Gunther used a similarity with Wren’s description as evidence for his claim that the Old Ashmolean in Oxford was designed by Wren (6)
Art · Economic shortage · Epistemology · Honour · Ingenuity · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Visual arts · Historical Architecture and Urbanism · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Law · Philosophy · Scottish History and National Identity
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2019 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |