Person    | Male  Born 20/10/1632  Died 25/2/1723

Sir Christopher Wren

Born East Knoyle, Wiltshire, died London. 

Designer of 54 London churches, of which 13 were destroyed in the Blitz. Part of one of his churches, St Antholin, has ended up in an unexpected location.

Not just an architect. Wren produced some drawings of the anatomy of the brain for a book published by Thomas Willis in 1664.  Using a method he devised himself he preserved and drew the specimens producing images that are described as the first modern images of brain anatomy.

Wren invested in the slave trading Royal Africa Company.

2022: Matt at Londonist has triumphed again: a map of Wren's London buildings, for all you Wrenologists out there.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Christopher Wren

Commemorated ati

49 Bankside

Here lived Sir Christopher Wren during the building of St Pauls Cathedral. He...

Read More

Charity School - plaque

2023: Lionel Wright  has drawn our attention to an error in this plaque: St A...

Read More

Show all 36

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Sir Christopher Wren

Creations i

Charles I statue

Made in 1633 during Charles I's reign, London’s oldest bronze statue was inte...

Read More

The Monument - west and north

The bas relief by Cibber is worthy of close examination.  It shows a woman on...

Read More

Other Subjects

G. Topham Forrest

G. Topham Forrest

Architect active in 1937. We have found his name associated with the design / laying out of: the Becontree estate in 1920 and the Downham Estate in Lewisham in 1923. Our colleague, Andrew Behan, h...

Person, Architecture, Scotland

1 memorial
Edward W. Godwin

Edward W. Godwin

Architect-designer. Born Edward William Godwin in Bristol and moved to London about 1862. Widowed in 1865 he had an affair 1868-74 with Ellen Terry, married to, but separated from, G. F. Watts at t...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Lieutenant Hugh Cecil Benson

Lieutenant Hugh Cecil Benson

Hugh Cecil Benson was born on 3 July 1883 in London at 16, Young Street, Kensington Square, the elder son of Cecil Foster Benson (1857-1934) and Constance Mary Benson née O'Neill.(1860-1935). His b...

Person, Architecture, Armed Forces, Belgium

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson, C.H., K.C.V.O., P.R.A., R.D.I.

Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson, C.H., K.C.V.O., P.R.A., R.D.I.

Hugh Casson was an architect, notably for the 1951 Festival of Britain and the London Zoo Elephant House. President of  the Royal Academy (PRA) from 1976 to 1984.  He was also president of The Frie...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Tower Hill Improvement Trust

Tower Hill Improvement Trust

Created by Tubby Clayton, Dr B R Leftwich, Lord Wakefield and Sir Follett Holt.  Purpose: to improve Tower Hill by removing from it certain ugly buildings which at that time disfigured it and hampe...

Group, Architecture, Social Welfare

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Liverpool Street Station restoration

Liverpool Street Station restoration

First opened in 1874. Extensively modified between 1985 and 1992. Opened by the Queen in 1991. 2023: Spitalfields Life have many photos of the old station and at Spitalfields Life 2.

Event, Transport

1 memorial
Great Storm of 1987

Great Storm of 1987

In the early hours of Friday 16 October 1987 a great storm struck South East England. In four violent hours London lost 250,000 trees. Its skyline changed for ever.  22 people were killed in Englan...

Event, Tragedy

11 memorials
Sir William Siemens

Sir William Siemens

Born Germany. Electrical engineer, inventor and businessman. Came to England in 1843 with an electro-plating invention. Became naturalised British subject in 1859. Also worked with the regenerativ...

Person, Industry, Science

1 memorial
John Birnie Philip

John Birnie Philip

John Birnie Philip was born on 23 November 1824 in London, the third son of the five children of William Philip (1781-1865)  and Elizabeth Philip née Rhind (b.1786). His father was a tailor and he ...

Person, Sculpture

61 memorials
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery

Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery

In 1874, on the death of her father, Mayer de Rothschild, she became the richest woman in Britain. Married 5th Earl of Rosebery, who, after her death, achieved his ambition of becoming Prime Minis...

Person, Philanthropy, Scotland

1 memorial