A plan of the City of London after the Great Fire in the Year of our Lord 1666 according to the design and proposal of Sir Christopher Wren, Kt. for rebuilding it. Shewing the situation of the Great Streets, St Pauls Cathedral, the Exchange, Guildhall, the Custom House and other public offices

Printed map. "Shewing the situation of the great streets, St. Pauls Cathedral, the Exchange, Guildhall, the Custom House, & other public offices." Visual scale [79 mm=880 yards or 1/2 mile]. Watermark with "1808" in the left margin. Probably from: London; being an Accurate History and Description of the British Metropolis and its Neighbourhood... by David Hughson, volume 1 (plate following p. 244), London: Printed by W. Stratford ... for J. Stratford, edition uncertain. McMaster has a 1748 version of this map; see RMC_107677. Acquired as part of the Hodsoll Collection. Wren was a Professor of Astronomy at Oxford with interest in the science of architecture, he was among the first to submit a proposal after the catastrophe. The narrow streets that had helped spread the fires have been replaced by monumental avenues radiating from piazzas. The classical buildings and formal street plans that Wren had studied in Paris and Rome are a clear influence. He also proposed constructing a Thameside quay from Bridewell to the Tower, replacing the ramshackle wooden wharf-side buildings with warehouses. A vignette of Tamesis (a river god), with London burning in the background has been added to the border. Wren's plan was never used.