A PROCLAMATION OF CHARLES II. (1666).
It seems clear from this proclamation that the King and his advisers not only realised the faults and dangers of the recently destroyed City, but entertained worthy and lofty ideals for its re-erection. Ingenious schemes were not lacking, and only a strong and firm and enthusiastic government was required to insure the building of a beautiful, safe, and convenient city to replace the old picturesque, but dangerous, unhealthy, and crowded buildings. However, royal favour and public convenience could not prevail against "vested interests"; and most of the pious hopes of Charles, and the plans of enlightened architects and others, were not fulfilled.
Charles, R.—As no particular man hath sustained any loss or damage by the late terrible and deplorable fire in his fortune or estate, in any degree to be compared with the loss and damage we ourself have sustained, so it is not possible for any man to take the same more to heart, and to be more concerned and solicitous for the rebuilding this famous city with as much expedition as is possible; and since it hath pleased God to lay this heavy judgment upon us all in this time, as an evidence of his displeasure for our sins, we do comfort ourself with some hope, that he will, upon our due humiliation before him, as a new instance of his signal blessing upon us, give us life, not only to see the foundations laid, but the buildings finished, of a much more beautiful city than is at this time consumed.
In the first place, the woeful experience in this late heavy visitation hath sufficiently convinced all men of the pernicious consequences which have attended the building with timber, and even with stone itself, and the notable benefit of brick, which in so many places hath resisted and even extinguished the fire: and we do therefore hereby declare our express will and pleasure that no man whatsoever shall presume to erect any house or building, great or small, but of brick or stone; and if any man shall do the contrary, the next magistrate shall forthwith cause it to be pulled down, and such further course shall be taken for his punishment as he deserves. And we suppose that the notable benefit many men have received from those cellars which have been well and strongly arched, will persuade most men, who build good houses, to practise that good husbandry, by arching all convenient places.
We do declare, that Fleet Street, Cheapside, Cornhill, and all other eminent and notorious streets, shall be of such a breadth, as may, with God's blessing, prevent the mischief that one side may suffer if the other be on fire, which was the case lately in Cheapside; the precise breadth of which several streets shall be, upon advice with the lord mayor and aldermen, shortly published, with many other particular orders and rules, which cannot yet be adjusted: in the mean time we resolve, though all streets cannot be of all equal breadth, yet none shall be so narrow as to make the passage uneasy or inconvenient, especially towards the water-side; nor will we suffer any lanes or alleys to be erected, but where, upon mature deliberation, the same shall be found absolutely necessary; except such places shall be set aside, which shall be designed only for buildings of that kind, and from whence no public mischief may probably arise.
The irreparable damage and loss by the late fire being, next to the hand of God in the terrible wind, to be imputed to the place in which it first broke out, amongst small timber houses standing so close together, that as no remedy could be applied from the river for the quenching thereof, to the contiguousness of the buildings hindering and keeping all possible relief from the land-side, we do resolve and declare, that there shall be a fair key or wharf on all the river-side; that no house shall be erected within so many feet of the river, as shall be within few days declared in the rules formerly mentioned; nor shall there be in those buildings which shall be erected next the river, which we desire may be fair structures, for the ornament of the city, any houses to be inhabited by brewers, or dyers, or sugar-bakers; which trades, by their continual smokes, contribute very much to the unhealthiness of the adjacent places; but we require the lord mayor and aldermen of London, upon a full consideration, and weighing all conveniences and inconveniences that can be foreseen, to propose such a place as may be fit for all those trades which are carried on by smoke to inhabit together, or at least several places for the several quarters of the town for those occupations, and in which they shall find their account in convenience and profit, as well as other places shall receive the benefit in the distance of the neighbourhood; it being our purpose, that they who exercise those necessary professions, shall be in all respects as well provided for and encouraged as ever they have been, and undergo as little prejudice as may be by being less inconvenient to their neighbours.
In the mean time, we do heartily recommend it to the charity and magnanimity of all well-disposed persons, and we do heartily pray unto Almighty God, that he will infuse it into the hearts of men, speedily to endeavour by degrees to re-edify some of those many churches, which, in this lamentable fire, have been burned down and defaced; that so men may have those public places of God's worship to resort to, to humble themselves together before him upon this his heavy displeasure, and join in their devotion for his future mercy and blessing upon us; and, as soon as we shall be informed of any readiness to begin such a good work, we shall not only give our assistance and direction for the model of it, and freeing it from buildings at too near a distance, but shall encourage it by our own bounty, and all other ways we shall be desired.
Lastly, that we may encourage men by our own example, we will use all the expedition we can to re-build our custom-house in the place where it formerly stood, and enlarge it with the most conveniences for the merchants that can be devised; and, upon all the other lands which belong unto us, we shall depart with any thing of our own right and benefit, for the advancement of the public service and beauty of the city; and shall further remit, to all those who shall erect any buildings according to this declaration, all duties arising to us upon the hearth-money for the space of seven years.
Given at our court at Whitehall the thirteenth day of September, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six, in the eighteenth year of our reign.
EVELYN'S PLANS FOR REBUILDING THE CITY
(1667).
After the Fire had demolished a considerable portion of the City, many plans and suggestions were submitted for its reconstruction, and those of Sir Christopher Wren and of John Evelyn were distinguished by their excellence and thoroughness. The occasion offered a magnificent opportunity for a wise and far-seeing scheme of town-planning, and the ingenious ideas of Evelyn are particularly interesting in view of the attention which is now being given to the subject.
Source.—London Restored, quoted by Maitland, vol. i., p. 447.
It might haply be thought fit to fill up, or at least give a partial level to some of the deepest valleys, holes and more sudden declivities within the City, for the more ease of commerce, carriages, coaches and people in the streets; and not a little for the more handsome ranging of the buildings: for instance, that from about the Fleet to Ludgate; which yet should be no more than might only afford a graceful and just ascent from thence up towards St. Paul's; the only spot in the whole city, where I would plant that ancient and venerable Cathedral again: but here is to be considered the Channel running thence through Holborn, which would be so enlarged, as not only to be preserved sweet (by scouring it through flood-gates into the Thames on all occasions) but commodious for the intercourse of considerable vessels thwart this portion of the town; and which therefore should be accordingly wharfed on both sides to the very key of the river, and made contiguous to the streets by bridges arched to a due level, as it might easily be contrived, (and with passage sufficient for lusty barges and lighters under them) were the valley so elevated as it is projected. There is only this care incumbent; that all foundations upon this new ground be searched to the old and more solid basis; from whence they may also store themselves with vaults and cellarage in abundance: The same might be considered in some sort from the descent of the hill towards Thames-Street, so as to come down upon the future key by a far less declivity, which would give those houses that should be built fronting to the river a more becoming aspect, and an easier footing to the ranges above them, which would peep over one another successively; with a far better grace, than those do at Genoa, where the ascent is too precipitious.
These considerations and employments would greatly forward the prompt and natural disposal of the more useless and cumbersome rubbish; unless it might be thought more expedient (if there should not be sufficient for both) to design it rather towards the enlargement of a new and ample key; which I wish might run parallel from the very Tower to the Temple at least, and, if it were possible (without augmenting the rapidity of the stream) extend itself even as far as the very low-water mark; the basin by this means kept perpetually full, without Slub or annoyance, and to the infinite benefit and ease of access, like that of Constantinople, than which nothing could be imagined more noble: what fractions and confusions our ugly stairs, bridges and causeways make, and how dirty and nasty it is at every ebb, we are sufficiently sensible of; so as, next to the hellish smoke of the town, there is nothing doubtless which does more impair the health of its inhabitants....
For the rest of those necessary evils, the brew-houses, bake-houses, dyers, salt, soap and sugar-boilers, chandlers, hat-makers, slaughter-houses, some sort of fish-mongers, etc. whose neighbourhood cannot be safe, (as I have elsewhere shewed, and a sad experience has confirmed) I hope his Majesty will now dispose of to some other parts about the river; towards Bow and Wandsworth on the water; Islington and about Spital-Fields, etc. The charge of bringing all their commodities into the City would be very inconsiderable, opposed to the peril of their being continued amongst the inhabitants, and the benefit of the carriage, which would employ a world of people, both by land and water, without the least prejudice.
I suppose the Custom-house cannot be better situated than where it was, and as it may hold communication with the Tower: here might the Admiralty and Navy-Office be fitly placed.
I have not forgotten the hospitals, public workhouses to employ the poor in, and prisons; which being built and re-endowed at the common charge, should be disposed of in convenient quarters of the City: the hospitals would become one of the principal streets: but the prisons, and tribunal for trial of criminal offenders, might be built (as of old) near some entrance of the City; about Newgate were a fitting place, as my plate represents it.
The College of Physicians would be in one of the best parts of the town, encircled with an handsome Piazza for the dwelling of those learned persons, with the Chirurgeons, Apothecaries and Druggists in the streets about them; for I am greatly inclined to wish, that all of a mystery should be destined to their several quarters: those of the better sort of shop-keepers, who sell by retail, might be allotted to the sweetest and most eminent streets and piazzas: the artificers to the more ordinary houses, intermediate and narrower passages (for such will hardly be avoided) that the noise and tintamar of their instruments may be the less importunate: the taverns and victualling houses sprinkled amongst them, and built accordingly: but all these too, even the very meanest, should exactly respect uniformity, and be more substantially built than those in Covent-Garden, and other places; where once in twenty or thirty years they had need be built again, and therefore to be indulged a longer term.
Spaces for ample courts, yards and gardens, even in the heart of the City there may be some to the principal houses, for state and refreshment; but with great reservation, because of the fractions they will make; and therefore rarely towards any principal street: and I hope it will please his Majesty to prescribe by a public and irreversible edict, that no houses whatsoever, may for the future presume to be erected, not only about this City, but all the Nation besides, within such a distance from magazines, places of public records and Churches, which should be preserved as sanctuaries.
The gates and entries of the City, which are to be rebuilt, might be the subjects of handsome architecture, in form of triumphal arches, adorned with statues, relievo's and apposite inscriptions, as prefaces to the rest within, and should therefore by no means be obstructed by sheds, and ugly shops, or houses adhering to them: and I wish this reformation, and the infinite danger of their being continued, might extend to the demolishing those deformed buildings on London-Bridge; which not only endanger all the rest, but take away from the beauty of it, and indeed of the whole City near the Thames: instead of them, if there went a substantial baluster of iron, decorated with statues upon their pedestals at convenient distances, and the footway on each side, it would be exceedingly convenient; whilst, to secure the passengers by night, it might be guarded by responsible house-keepers in their turns: or, if they will need have shops, let them be built of solid stone, made narrow and very low, like to those upon the Rialto at Venice; but it were far better without them.