Building St Paul's - James W P Campbell

Building St Paul's tells the story of this remarkable building and of those responsible for its construction, from the time of the disastrous Great Fire to the cathedral's final completion in 1708. Christopher Wren is well known, yet this book also considers those ordinary craftsmen whose work on St Paul's has received less attention: the contractors and overseers, the quarrymen on the Isle of Portland, the humble stonemasons and carpenters who shaped the materials. It also unravels the complicated tangle of the cathedral's finances and the struggles for money that at one time threatened to undermine the whole enterprise. By looking at such details, Campbell's account reaffirms St Paul's not only as one man's masterwork, but as an incredible collaborative achievement.