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St Paul’s Cathedral, Architectural Archive
St Paul’s Cathedral, the Church of England cathedral in the City of London, is the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. St Paul's Cathedral was probably founded in 604 by the King of Kent, Saint Ethelbert. The present building is the fifth cathedral to have stood on the site since 604, and was built between 1675 and 1710, after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. This was the first cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the sixteenth century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Crown took control of the Church's life.
The Architectural Archive contains the papers and drawings created by the Surveyor to the Fabric of St Paul’s Cathedral and related drawings by consultants, contractors, artists and designers. The Surveyor is the architect responsible for the monitoring, maintenance and repair of the cathedral fabric and the maintenance of records is a statutory requirement under the Care of Cathedrals Measure (1990 and 2011). The post of Surveyor to the Fabric goes back to Sir Christopher Wren, the architect who designed and built St Paul’s, and has continued to the present day. The drawings and papers date primarily from the surveyorship of F. C. Penrose (1852-1897) to the present day and chart the structural changes and decorative embellishments to the Cathedral during this period. There are also some records relating to archaeological investigations that add to our knowledge of the pre-Fire Cathedral. Understanding the history of previous works to the building is essential to the maintenance of the cathedral today and the architectural archive is used by the Surveyor and cathedral staff as well as by visiting researchers.
The architectural archive is available to researchers by appointment with the Architectural Archivist. Material dating from 1990 onwards is not currently available for public consultation. It should be noted that the majority of the cathedral archives, including the archive of the Dean & Chapter and the Wren office drawings, are deposited with the City of London and administered by London Metropolitan Archives.
Address: Architectural Archive, The Chapter House, St Paul’s Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7246 8307
Email: catherine@stpaulscathedral.org.uk Web: http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Cathedral-History/Architectural-Archive
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