Christopher Wren and St Paul's Cathedral

The Final Design

The Final Design as depicted by Theodor Schwertfeger (1750)

Christopher Wren's final design was radically different to the 'Warrant' design, approved by Charles II. The principal changes:

• The plan, though still longitudinal, was subtly altered, to emphasise the central space beneath the dome.
• The upper part of the cathedral concealed during construction behind screen walls, had a handsome, two-storey exterior facade.
• A tall dome, similar in scale to that proposed in the 'Great Model', was raised over the crossing.
• Wren continued to change the design long after work began, and much of the design was only finalised in the late 1680s and 1690s, by which time Nicolas Hawksmoor, another gifter architect of London churches was on Wren's staff.

St Paul's has always had its critics. For many, the final design remains a disappointment against the perfection of the 'Great Model'. But building projects on the scale of St Paul's are seldom straightforward, and the design history of St Paul's reveals the doggedness with which Wren pursued his artistic vision: to crown the London skyline with a great domed church.