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Facing King Street, the newly
made processional route to Guildhall, Wren provided a spectacular E front.
Four attached Corinthian columns on a podium carry a pediment set against
a big attic storey. The flanking bays have Corinthian pilasters at the
corners and eloquent arched niches in round-headed surrounds. Similar
niche in the centre bay, with large arched windows in the bays to either
side. The impost mouldings run across the front between the columns and
all five bays have rich carved festoons above.
The side towards Gresham Street Street is also treated as a facade: five
arched windows in the centre, flanked by straight-headed entrances with
circular windows above, the bays unevenly spaced. In the attic small
segment-headed windows.
The W tower has tall obelisk pinnacles and a balustraded parapet. The
bell-chamber below has on each face a round-headed opening in a shallow
square-headed recess. The restored spire, of glass fibre, faithfully
reproduces the four pedimented faces and octagonal spirelet of its leaded
predecessor. ...
Quoined W front, far more modest than the E ... (not
shown here; picture
at external site). The plainer treatment here and on the
rubble-faced N front (shown at the top) is
explained by their original setting facing narrow lanes. The W front is
not square with the N and S sides ...
The interior (not shown here) is particularly
spacious but was never of exceptional architectural interest. ...
Brown restored St Lawrence as a Guild church to provide a setting for
Guildhall ceremonies ... |
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