Wren’s third proposal for the new St.…
September 1673 CE
Wren’s third proposal for the new St. Paul’s uses many of the same design concepts as his Greek cross design, though it had an extended nave.
This design is embodied in his creation in 1673 of the "Great Model".
The model, made of oak and plaster, cost over five hundred pounds (approximately thirty-two thousand pounds today) and is over thirteen feet tall and twenty-one feet long.
His critics, members of a committee commissioned to rebuild the church and members of the clergy, decry the design as being too dissimilar from churches that already exist in England at the time to suggest any continuity within the Church of England.
Clergymen also prefer a Latin cross plan for services.
Another problem is that the entire design would have to be completed all at once because of the eight central piers that supported the dome, instead of being completed in stages and opened for use before construction finished, as was customary.
Wren considers the Great Model his favorite design, and thinks it a reflection of Renaissance beauty.
After the Great Model, Wren resolves to make no more models or publicly expose his drawings, which he find does nothing but "lose time, and subject his business many times, to incompetent judges".
Wren's fourth design, the Warrant design, seeks to reconcile the Gothic, the predominant form of English churches, to a "better manner of architecture."
Wren attempts to integrate the same concepts of Renaissance harmony into a much more Gothic style.
This design is rotated slightly on its site so that it aligns not with true east, but with sunrise on Easter of the year construction began.
This small change in configuration made by Wren is informed by his knowledge of astronomy.
His design of the portico is influenced by Inigo Jones’s addition to Old St. Paul’s.