Wren, SIR CHRISTOPHER, architect, was born at East Knoyle in Wiltshire, on the 20th of October 1632. His father, Dr C. Wren, was Dean of Windsor, and his uncle, Dr M. Wren, was Bishop successively of Hereford, Norwich, and Ely. Young Wren was educated at Westminster School, under the celebrated Dr Busby, and while yet only in his fourteenth year was entered a gentleman-commoner of Wadham College, Oxford. Here he distinguished himself in mathematics, attracted notice by his inventions of certain mathematical instruments, and his enthusiasm in experimental philosophy. In 1650 he took his degree of B.A., and in 1653 that of M.A., having been previously made fellow of All Souls. In 1654 he is spoken of by Evelyn as 'that rare and early prodigy of universal science;' and acquaintance ripened into a firm friendship between Wren and Evelyn.
In 1655 Wren assisted in perfecting the barometer. In 1657 he left Oxford for London, where he became Gresham professor of Astronomy, but in May 1661 returned to Oxford as Savilian professor of Astronomy. The same year he received the degree of D.C.L., and that of LL.D. at Cambridge. Before leaving London Wren had, in conjunction with Lord Brouncker, the Hon. Robert Boyle, Dr Wilkins, and others, who used to meet together at Gresham College, laid the foundation of the future Royal Society. One of the first proceedings of the Society was to get the king to lay his commands upon Wren to perfect a design he had in hand of a globe of the moon, and to 'proceed in drawing the shapes of little animals as they appear in the microscope.' The lunar globe was finished, much to the satisfaction of his Majesty, who placed it in his cabinet of rarities. He also summoned Wren from Oxford to assist Sir John Denham with his advice on architectural subjects; the poet Denham having been appointed surveyor-general of his Majesty's buildings, but possessing little or no knowledge of the subject.
The study of architecture was one to which Wren had given great attention, notwithstanding his devotion to mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and even anatomy. In 1663 he was engaged by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's to make a survey of the cathedral, with a view to certain projected repairs in that vast fabric. He accordingly drew up a very careful and elaborate report, but before any steps were taken St Paul's was irreparably injured by the memorable fire of 1666, and Wren was destined to be the architect of the new cathedral instead of the restorer of the old. The first work actually built from a design by Wren was the chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1663. But in the same year he designed the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford (1664-69). In 1664 Wren also designed some valuable additions to the buildings at Trinity College,
Cambridge, particularly the beautiful western quadrangle known as Nevile's Court. To this he added in 1666 the Library of Trinity College, said by Gwilt to be 'one of his finest productions, and one with which he himself was well satisfied.'
In 1665 Wren visited Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Bernini, architect of the colonnade of St Peter's, Rome, and of other distinguished men. In the following year he returned, to find the Royal Society earnestly engaged in searching out the causes of the great plague, so soon to be succeeded by the great fire which laid London in ashes. This disaster at once opened a wide field for the exertion of Wren's genius. He formed a plan and drew designs for the entire rebuilding of the metropolis, embracing wide streets, magnificent quays along the banks of the river, and other well-considered improvements. In rebuilding London, however, few of Wren's recommendations were adopted. He was certainly chosen to be the architect of new St Paul's, one of the finest non-Gothic cathedrals in the world; besides which he designed more than fifty other churches in place of those destroyed by the fire. The great church of St Paul, built on the model of St Peter's at Rome, was begun in 1675 and completed in 1710, when the last stone was laid upon the lantern by the architect's son, Christopher.
Besides the numerous churches mentioned, Wren built or designed the Royal Exchange (1667); Custom-house (1668); Temple Bar (q.v., 1670); the Monument (1671-77); the College of Physicians (1674-98); the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (1675); the Gateway Tower, Christ Church, Oxford (1681-82); Chelsea Hospital (1682-90); Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1683); Hampton Court (q.v., 1690); Morden College, Blackheath (1692); Greenwich Hospital (1696); Buckingham House (1703); Marlborough House (1709); the western towers and the north transept, recently altered, of Westminster Abbey (1713); besides the unfinished palace of Winchester (1683). See RENAISSANCE.
In 1672 Wren received the honour of knighthood. In 1674 he married a daughter of Sir John Coghill, by whom he had a son, Christopher (1675-1747, antiquary); and in 1679 he married a daughter of Viscount Fitzwilliam, by whom he had a son and daughter. In 1680 he was elected President of the Royal Society; in 1684 was made comptroller of the works at Windsor Castle, where he built the state apartments, of which the exterior only was Gothicked by Wyattville; and in 1685 was elected Grand-master of the order of Freemasons. He was also elected a member of parliament for Windsor in 1689, and being unseated on petition was immediately re-elected. In 1698 he was appointed surveyor-general of the repairs at Westminster Abbey. Wren died at his house at Hampton Court, sitting in his chair after dinner, on 25th February 1723, aged ninety years, and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, where the appropriate inscription, 'Si monumentum requiris, circumspice' marks his tomb. During his declining years he was treated with neglect, and even injustice, by the court of England; 'one Benson' was appointed by George I. to supersede him in the office of surveyor-general; and some private individuals carped at his works in a most malevolent spirit. Steele, however, vindicated the fame of his friend in the Tatler, in which Wren is introduced in the character of Nestor; and few have since been found hardy enough to call in question the well-merited reputation of Sir C. Wren as architect, mathematician, and scientific observer.
See Milman's Annals of St Paul's (1868), Lives by James Elnes (1852), Miss Phillimore (1881), and W. J. Lottie, Inigo Jones and Wren (1893).