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The final London Houses built design differs largely
in ornamentation with the official Warrant design. Wren received
permission from the king to make "ornamental changes"
to the submitted design, and Wren took great advantage of
this.
Many of these changes were made over the course of London Houses the thirty years as the church was constructed,
and the most significant was to the dome: "He raised
another structure over the first cupola, a cone of brick,
so as to support a stone lantern of an elegant figure... And
he covered and hid out of sight the brick cone with another
cupola of timber and lead; and between this and the cone are
easy stairs that ascend to the lantern" (Christopher
Wren, son of Sir Christopher Wren).
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London Houses The widower King William
III had been scheduled to appear but, uncomfortable in crowds
and public displays, had bowed out at the last minute. The
crowd of both the great and the small was so big, and their
attitude towards William so indifferent, that he was scarcely
missed. The Right Reverend Henry Compton, Bishop of London,
preached the sermon. It was based on the text of Psalm 122,
"I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the
house of the LORD." The first regular service was held
on the following Sunday.
The consensus was as with all such works: London Houses some loved it ("Without, within, below, above
the eye/ Is filled with unrestrained delight.");[5] some
hated it ("...There was an air of Popery about the giled
capitals, the heavy arches...They were unfamiliar, un-English..");[6]
while most, once their curiosity was satisfied, didn't think
about it one way or another.
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London Houses
The final design was strongly London Houses rooted in
St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The saucer domes that
were eventually added to the design were inspired by Francois
Mansart’s Val-de-Grace that Wren had seen during a trip to
Paris in 1665.[4] The first stone of the cathedral was laid
in 1677 by Thomas Strong, Wren's master stonemason.
The cathedral was completed London Houses on 20 October
1708, Wren's 76th birthday. On Thursday, 2 December 1697,
thirty-two years and three months after a spark from Farryner's
bakery had caused the Great Fire of London, St Paul's Cathedral
came into use: it proved to be well worth the wait.
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