Georgian Group Journal Vol XXXIII, 2025

Membership of the Georgian Group brings with it the excellent annual Georgian Group Journal (Vol XXXIII, 2025), devoted in its entirety to Sir Christopher Wren. The nine papers over 130 pages are by authors with a particular specialism or interest in late-17th- and 18th-century architecture and culture. The most recent developments in Wren’s scholarship are examined, enhancing our understanding of the shared design process that united the work of the building trades, and what this represents in terms of the integral roles in completing Wren’s buildings.

Martin Kemp examines the representation of mathematics in the ceiling at the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. Charlotte Davies connects the careers of Wren and Edward Pearce in the former’s early career, encouraging a fresh look at their working relationship. Luka Pajovic draws our attention to the City churches immediately after the Great Fire, when the ‘patched-up shells’ of four churches were taken on by the city’s pre-eminent masons and surveyors.

Martin Kirkby sheds light on Wren’s decorative schemes for City churches in the 1670s and 1680s. Gordon Higgott focuses attention on Westminster and the 1690s, when Wren’s career changed direction. William Aslet considers Wren’s connection with James Gibbs, following the younger man’s return from Italy. Charles Hyde reveals much about Wren in the final years of his life, based on a newly acquired sales catalogue of Wren and his son from their house in Hampton Court. The current journal has much to tell us about late-17th- and early 18th-century life and construction in the context of Wren’s prodigious architectural output.

This article originally appeared in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s (IHBC’s) Context 184, published in September 2025.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation

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