Gothic Design Procedures in Three Early Hawksmoor Churches

Abstract

Many commentators ascribe a ‘Gothic feeling’ to the London churches of Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661–1736), despite their very different appearance. This study tests the hypothesis that Hawksmoor made conscious and deliberate use of the design principles and procedures of medieval Gothic architecture. New surveys were undertaken of the church interiors at three early Hawksmoor churches: St Alfege, Greenwich; St George-in-the-East; St Anne, Limehouse. The proportional relationships identified there suggest that the design process involved generating a series of squares and rectangles, based initially on the nave width, that established the principal plan dimensions. The nave width generated the nave height, which then set other significant vertical dimensions in the elevation. Hawksmoor used the medieval procedures of triangulation at St Anne and the ‘rotation of squares’ at St Alfege and St George-in-the-East. Taken together, these processes probably account for the perceived ‘Gothic feeling’.