Building St Paul's
Author: Campbell, James
ISBN: 9780500295502
RM55.90
Publisher,Thames & Hudson
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
Weight,
No. of Pages, 176
The story of one of London's most famous landmarks and the people who built it
The mighty dome of St Paul’s Cathedral has dominated London’s skyline for centuries. Here is the story of those who built it, and how.
The architect, Sir Christopher Wren, is well known, but what of the contractors and overseers, the quarrymen, stonemasons and carpenters who shaped the materials? James W. P. Campbell has scoured the records to recreate life on a seventeenth-century building site, to explain how some workers were poorly paid while others became millionaires, and to unravel the struggles for control and money that threatened to undermine the whole enterprise.
Campbell’s account reaffirms St Paul’s not only as one man’s masterwork, but as an incredible collaborative achievement.
Table of Contents
1. A New Dome for London 2. The Astronomer Architect 3. Fire and Destruction
4. Models, Designs and Warrants 5. The Demolition Men 6. Life in the Office of
Works 7. The Phoenix Rising 8. Financing the Works 9. The Wealth of Masons
10. Carpenters and Scaffolding 11. Getting Materials 12. Collapsing Vaults and Flying
Buttresses 13. The Race to Finish the Choir 14. Roofing the Cathedral 15. Designing
the Dome 16. Catenary Curves and Parabolic Conoids 17. The Telescope in the
Tower 18. Frauds and Abuses 19. The Cathedral Completed
The mighty dome of St Paul’s Cathedral has dominated London’s skyline for centuries. Here is the story of those who built it, and how.
The architect, Sir Christopher Wren, is well known, but what of the contractors and overseers, the quarrymen, stonemasons and carpenters who shaped the materials? James W. P. Campbell has scoured the records to recreate life on a seventeenth-century building site, to explain how some workers were poorly paid while others became millionaires, and to unravel the struggles for control and money that threatened to undermine the whole enterprise.
Campbell’s account reaffirms St Paul’s not only as one man’s masterwork, but as an incredible collaborative achievement.
Table of Contents
1. A New Dome for London 2. The Astronomer Architect 3. Fire and Destruction
4. Models, Designs and Warrants 5. The Demolition Men 6. Life in the Office of
Works 7. The Phoenix Rising 8. Financing the Works 9. The Wealth of Masons
10. Carpenters and Scaffolding 11. Getting Materials 12. Collapsing Vaults and Flying
Buttresses 13. The Race to Finish the Choir 14. Roofing the Cathedral 15. Designing
the Dome 16. Catenary Curves and Parabolic Conoids 17. The Telescope in the
Tower 18. Frauds and Abuses 19. The Cathedral Completed
