1.
Paternoster Square
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Paternoster Square is an urban development, owned by the Mitsubishi Estate Co. next to St Pauls Cathedral in the City of London. The area, which takes its name from Paternoster Row, centre of the London publishing trade, was devastated by bombardment in The Blitz during World War II. It is now the location of the London Stock Exchange which relocated there from Threadneedle Street in 2004 and it is also the location of investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities Co. and of fund manager Fidelity Investments. Pater noster is Latin for Our Father, the incipit of the Lords Prayer, the Square lies near the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest part of the City of London. The City of London was hit by one of the heaviest night raids of The Blitz on the night of 29 December 1940, buildings on Paternoster Row, housing the publishing companies Simpkins and Marshall, Hutchinsons, Blackwoods, and Longmans and Collins were destroyed. In 1956 the Corporation of London published Sir William Holfords proposals for redeveloping the precinct north of St Pauls Cathedral, the report was controversial, however, because it introduced a decisively modern note alongside the foremost work of Britains foremost 17th-century architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The new Paternoster Square soon became unpopular, and its grim presence immediately north of one of the capitals prime tourist attractions was seen as an embarrassment. Robert Finch, the Lord Mayor of London, wrote of it in The Guardian in 2004, in the late 1980s, as it became harder to fill leases on the site, there were proposals to redevelop the area. A competition was won in 1987 by Arup associates with a complicated postmodern plan and this was abandoned in 1990 in favour of John Simpsons classicising scheme, sponsored by a newspaper competition and championed by HRH The Prince of Wales. Dismissed by supporters of modern styles as pastiche, this plan too was abandoned. In 1996 a masterplan by Sir William Whitfield was adopted and put into action over the following years, by October 2003 the redeveloped Paternoster Square was complete, with buildings by Whitfields firm and several others. Among the main tenants was the newly relocated London Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange was the initial target for the protesters of Occupy London on October 15,2011. Attempts to occupy Paternoster Square were thwarted by police, police sealed off the entrance to Paternoster square. A High Court injunction had been granted against public access to the square, the main monument in the redeveloped square is the 75 ft tall Paternoster Square Column. It is a Corinthian column of Portland stone topped by a leaf covered flaming copper urn. The column was designed by the architects Whitfield Partners and also serves as a shaft for a service road that runs beneath the square. It is sometimes referred to as the pineapple, at the north end of the square is the bronze Paternoster by Dame Elisabeth Frink. The statue was commissioned for the previous Paternoster Square complex in 1975 and was replaced on a new following the redevelopment
2.
Christopher Wren
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Sir Christopher Wren PRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. The principal creative responsibility for a number of the churches is now commonly attributed to others in his office. Other notable buildings by Wren include the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, the Wren Building, the main building at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, is attributed to Wren. Educated in Latin and Aristotelian physics at the University of Oxford, Wren was a notable anatomist, astronomer, geometer and he was a founder of the Royal Society, and his scientific work was highly regarded by Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. Wren was born in East Knoyle in Wiltshire, the surviving son of Christopher Wren Sr. and Mary Cox. Christopher Sr. was at time the rector of East Knoyle. Their son Christopher was born in 1632 then, two later, another daughter named Elizabeth was born. Mary must have died shortly after the birth of Elizabeth, although there does not appear to be any surviving record of the date, through Mary Cox, however, the family became well off financially for, as the only heir, she had inherited her fathers estate. As a child Wren seemd consumptive, although a sickly child, he would survive into robust old age. He was first taught at home by a tutor and his father. After his fathers appointment as Dean of Windsor in March 1635, his family spent part of each year there. He spent his first eight years at East Knoyle and was educated by the Rev. William Shepherd and it was a tough time in his life, but one which would go on to have a significant impact upon his later works. Some of Wrens youthful exercises preserved or recorded showed that he received a grounding in Latin. According to Parentalia, he was initiated in the principles of mathematics by Dr William Holder, who married Wrens elder sister Susan in 1643. His drawing was put to use in providing many of the anatomical drawings for the anatomy textbook of the brain, Cerebri Anatome, published by Thomas Willis. During this time period, Wren manifested an interest in the design and it was probably through Holder that Wren met Sir Charles Scarburgh whom Wren assisted in his anatomical studies. On 25 June 1650, Wren entered Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied Latin and it is anachronistic to imagine that he received scientific training in the modern sense. However, Wren became closely associated with John Wilkins, the Warden of Wadham, the Wilkins circle was a group whose activities led to the formation of the Royal Society, comprising a number of distinguished mathematicians, creative workers and experimental philosophers
3.
Doric order
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The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture, the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognised by the simple circular capitals at the top of columns and it was the earliest and in its essence the simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature above. The Greek Doric column was fluted or smooth-surfaced, and had no base, the capital was a simple circular form, with some mouldings, under a square cushion that is very wide in early versions, but later more restrained. In stone they are purely ornamental, the relatively uncommon Roman and Renaissance Doric retained these, and often introduced thin layers of moulding or further ornament, as well as often using plain columns. The Doric order was used in Greek Revival architecture from the 18th century onwards, often earlier Greek versions were used, with wider columns. Since at least Vitruvius it has been customary for writers to associate the Doric with masculine virtues and it is also normally the cheapest of the orders to use. In their original Greek version, Doric columns stood directly on the pavement of a temple without a base. The Parthenon has the Doric design columns and it was most popular in the Archaic Period in mainland Greece, and also found in Magna Graecia, as in the three temples at Paestum. These are in the Archaic Doric, where the capitals spread wide from the column compared to later Classical forms, pronounced features of both Greek and Roman versions of the Doric order are the alternating triglyphs and metopes. The triglyphs are decoratively grooved with two vertical grooves and represent the original wooden end-beams, which rest on the plain architrave that occupies the half of the entablature. Under each triglyph are peglike stagons or guttae that appear as if they were hammered in from below to stabilize the post-and-beam construction and they also served to organize rainwater runoff from above. The spaces between the triglyphs are the metopes and they may be left plain, or they may be carved in low relief. The spacing of the triglyphs caused problems which some time to resolve. The architecture followed rules of harmony, since the original design probably came from wooden temples and the triglyphs were real heads of wooden beams, every column had to bear a beam which lay across the centre of the column. Triglyphs were arranged regularly, the last triglyph was centred upon the last column and this was regarded as the ideal solution which had to be reached. Changing to stone instead of wooden beams required full support of the architrave load at the last column. At the first temples the final triglyph was moved, still terminating the sequence, even worse, the last triglyph was not centered with the corresponding column. That “archaic” manner was not regarded as a harmonious design, the resulting problem is called the doric corner conflict
4.
Column
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A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member, the term column applies especially to a large round support with a capital and a base or pedestal and made of stone, or appearing to be so. A small wooden or metal support is called a post. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces, other compression members are often termed columns because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the parts of walls or ceilings rest. In architecture, column refers to such an element that also has certain proportional. A column might also be an element not needed for structural purposes, many columns are engaged. All significant Iron Age civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean made some use of columns, egyptian columns are famously present in the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak, where 134 columns are lined up in 16 rows, with some columns reaching heights of 24 metres. Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of the Persians and they included double-bull structures in their capitals. The Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis, measuring 70 ×70 metres, was built by the Achaemenid king Darius I, many of the ancient Persian columns are standing, some being more than 30 metres tall. The Minoans used whole tree-trunks, usually turned upside down in order to prevent re-growth, stood on a set in the stylobate. These were then painted as in the most famous Minoan palace of Knossos, the Minoans employed columns to create large open-plan spaces, light-wells and as a focal point for religious rituals. These traditions were continued by the later Mycenaean civilization, particularly in the megaron or hall at the heart of their palaces. Being made of wood these early columns have not survived, but their bases have and through these we may see their use. The Greeks developed the classical orders of architecture, which are most easily distinguished by the form of the column and their Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders were expanded by the Romans to include the Tuscan and Composite orders. Columns, or at least large structural exterior ones, became less significant in the architecture of the Middle Ages. Early columns were constructed of stone, some out of a piece of stone. Monolithic columns are among the heaviest stones used in architecture, other stone columns are created out of multiple sections of stone, mortared or dry-fit together
5.
City of London
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The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, however, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area. One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was later buried at Ludgate
6.
London Bridge
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London Bridge refers to several historical bridges that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and this replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of bridges, the first built by the Roman founders of London. The current bridge stands at the end of the Pool of London but is positioned 30 metres upstream from previous alignments. The traditional ends of the bridge were marked by St Magnus-the-Martyr on the northern bank. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames and its importance has been the subject of popular culture throughout the ages such as in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down and its inclusion within art and literature. The modern bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates and it carries the A3 road, which is maintained by the Greater London Authority. The crossing also delineates an area along the bank of the River Thames. The abutments of modern London Bridge rest several metres above natural embankments of gravel, sand, between the embankments, the River Thames could have been crossed by ford when the tide was low, or ferry when it was high. There is archaeological evidence for scattered Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement nearby, two ancient fords were in use a few miles upstream, beyond the rivers upper tidal reach. They were aligned with the course of Watling Street and led into the heartlands of the Catuvellauni, some time before Claudius conquest of AD43, power shifted to the Trinovantes, who held the region northeast of the Thames estuary from a capital at Camulodunum. Claudius imposed a major colonia on Camulodunum, and made it the city of the new Roman province of Britannia. The first London Bridge was built by the Roman military as part of their road-building programme, around AD55, the temporary bridge over the Thames was replaced by a permanent timber piled bridge, maintained and guarded by a small garrison. On the relatively high, dry ground at the end of the bridge, a small, opportunistic trading and shipping settlement took root. A smaller settlement developed at the end of the bridge. The bridge was destroyed along with the town in the Boudican revolt. Just downstream of the bridge were substantial quays and depots, convenient to seagoing trade between Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, with the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Londinium was gradually abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. In the Saxon period, the became a boundary between the emergent, mutually hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex
7.
Great Fire of London
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The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London from Sunday,2 September to Wednesday,5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall and it threatened but did not reach the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles IIs Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses,87 parish churches, St Pauls Cathedral and it is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the Citys 80,000 inhabitants. The death toll is unknown but traditionally thought to have been small, a melted piece of pottery on display at the Museum of London found by archaeologists in Pudding Lane, where the fire started, shows that the temperature reached 1250 °C. The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday,2 September, by the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm that defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City, order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the focused on the French and Dutch, Englands enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War. The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming, evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire, by the 1660s, London was by far the largest city in Britain, estimated at half a million inhabitants. By inartificial, Evelyn meant unplanned and makeshift, the result of organic growth, London had been a Roman settlement for four centuries and had become progressively more crowded inside its defensive city wall. It had also pushed outwards beyond the wall into squalid extramural slums such as Shoreditch, Holborn, and Southwark, the City was surrounded by a ring of inner suburbs where most Londoners lived. The City was then, as now, the heart of the capital. The aristocracy shunned the City and lived either in the countryside beyond the suburbs, or in the exclusive Westminster district. The relationship was tense between the City and the Crown. The City magistrates were of the generation that had fought in the Civil War and they were determined to thwart any similar tendencies in his son, and when the Great Fire threatened the City, they refused the offers that Charles made of soldiers and other resources. Even in such an emergency, the idea of having the unpopular Royal troops ordered into the City was political dynamite, by the time that Charles took over command from the ineffectual Lord Mayor, the fire was already out of control. The City was essentially medieval in its plan, an overcrowded warren of narrow, winding. It had experienced major fires before 1666, the most recent in 1632
8.
Pudding Lane
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Pudding Lane is a minor street in London widely known for being the location of Thomas Farriners bakery where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. It is located off Eastcheap, near London Bridge and the Monument, the site of Farriners bakery on Pudding Lane is now occupied by a building called Faryners House. A plaque on the wall of the building, presented by the Company of Bakers in 1986, commemorates the fire. In Stows words, the Butchers of Eastcheape have their skalding House for Hog there, the original name of the lane was Offal Pudding Lane. Pudding Lane was one of the worlds first one-way streets, the nearest Underground station to Pudding Lane is Monument, a short distance to the west. The closest main-line railway stations are Fenchurch Street and Cannon Street
9.
Smithfield, London
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Smithfield is a locality in the ward of Farringdon Without situated at the City of Londons northwest in central London, England. The principal street of the area is West Smithfield, the area also contains Londons oldest surviving church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, founded in 1123 AD. Some of its original market premises fell into disuse in the late 20th century, the Corporation of Londons public enquiry in 2012 drew widespread support for an urban regeneration plan intent upon preserving Smithfields historical identity. In the Middle Ages, it was a grassy area known as Smooth Field. Given its ease of access to grazing and water, Smithfield established itself as Londons livestock market, remaining so for almost 1,000 years. In 1123, the area near Aldersgate was granted by King Henry I for the foundation of St Bartholomews Priory at the request of Prior Rahere in thanks for his being nursed back to good health. The Priory exercised its right to land between Aldersgate, Long Lane and modern-day Newgate Street, erecting its main western gate which opened onto Smithfield. The Priory thereafter held the rights to hold weekly fairs. A trading event for cloth and other goods as well as being a pleasure forum, in 1855, however, Bartholomew Fair was closed down by the City authorities after degenerating into a magnet for debauchery and public disorder. A chapel and hermitage were constructed, renamed New Church Haw, but in 1371, later Augustinian canonesses established the Priory of St Mary, north of the Knights of St John property. By the end of the 14th century, these houses were regarded by City traders as interlopers — occupying what had previously been public open space nearby one of the City gates. On numerous occasions vandals damaged the Charterhouse, eventually demolishing its buildings, by 1405, a stout wall was built to protect the property and maintain the privacy of the Order, particularly its church where men and women alike came to worship. The religious houses were dissolved in the Reformation, and their lands broken up, the Priory Church of St John remains, as does St Johns Gate, traditionally regarded as the boundary between Smithfield and Clerkenwell. John Houghton, Prior of Charterhouse, went to Thomas Cromwell accompanied by two other local priors seeking an oath of supremacy that would be acceptable to their communities. This resulted in their being flung into the Tower of London, on 29 May, the remaining twenty monks and eighteen lay brothers were forced to swear the oath of allegiance, the ten who refused were taken to Newgate Prison and left to starve. Until 1899 Charterhouse was extra-parochial, when it became a civil parish incorporated in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, from its inception, the Priory of St Bartholomew treated the sick. Letters Patent were presented to the City, granting property and income to the new foundation the following month, the Priorys principal church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, was reconfigured after the dissolution of the monasteries losing the western third of its nave. Reformed as an Anglican parish church, its boundaries were limited to the site of the ancient priory
