Sir Christopher Wren

(1632-1723)

English architect, born East Knoyle, Wiltshire. Educated at Westminster School and Wadham College, Oxford, he became a fellow of All Souls, Oxford. In 1657, he became professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, before returning to Oxford to take up a similar position. Following the Great Fire of London, he designed over 50 churches in the city. Wren was a founder of the Royal Society, knighted in 1673, and became MP for Plympton in 1685, Windsor in 1689, and finally, Weymouth in 1701.

Works

• St Paul's Cathedral, London (1675-1710).
• The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
• Greenwich Hospital (1696).
• Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge (1663-5).
• Royal Greenwich Observatory (1675-76).
• The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford (1664).
• Parts of Hampton Court Palace, London.
• Parts of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.