Plate XXXVI. Rectangular Interiors with Domed and Vaulted Ceilings

Plate XXXVI. — Sir Christopher Wren’s churches offer rare examples of skill and ingenuity in the handling of rectangular plans both in the introduction of columns and the treatment of ceilings. Nos. I and II show the interior disposition of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. Not only is this arrangement suitable for a small church, but its principle can be applied wherever architectural interest combined with effective lighting is desired and where the floor space need be unbroken only in the centre. In Nos. III, IV and V interest is centred in the upper part of a rectangular apartment, the lighting being obtained through the side and end walls. A saucer dome carried on pendentives in conjunction with subsidiary barrel vaults completes an effective scheme similar in principle to that given in No. IV on Plate XXXV, but with the omission of the gallery. The interesting scheme shown in Nos. VI, VII and VIII demonstrates how a simple rectangular plan can assume the character of a complex treatment by the introduction of columns which lead to pleasing contrasts in the ceiling by the use of a saucer dome, intersecting barrel vaults and flat surfaces.