Building St Paul's paperback James W P Campbell
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Building St Paul's

Building St Paul’s tells the story of the cathedral that has dominated London’s skyline for 300 years and of those responsible for its construction from the time of the disastrous Great Fire to final completion in 1708.

The figure of Sir Christopher Wren is well known, but this book also considers those ordinary craftsmen, the contractors and overseers, the quarrymen on the Isle of Portland, the humble stonemasons and carpenters who shaped the materials. James Campbell is the first historian to plough through the documents in search of these people: he describes life on a seventeenth-century building site, the workers’ day-to-day responsibilities, how some were poorly paid while others became millionaires. He also unravels the struggles for money that at one time 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

Paperback
176 pages
Author: James W. P. Campbell
20cm x 13cm
Name:
Building St Paul's (Thames and Hudson)
Price:
£ 8.99
Product Code:
9780500295502
Availability:
7 - 10 days unless specified