Present Building
The church was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The parish tried to patch it up, but between 1677 and 1684 it was rebuilt to a design by Christopher Wren at a cost of £5,647. The new church was 10 feet (3.0 m) shorter than its predecessor, the eastern end of the site having been given up to widen Gracechurch Street
St Peter's was described by Ian Nairn as having "three personalities inextricably sewn into the City". The eastern frontage to Gracechurch Street is a grand stone-faced composition, with five arched windows between Ionic pilasters above a high stylobate. The pilasters support an entablature ; above that is a blank attic story, then a gable with one arched window flanked by two round ones. The north and south sides, are stuccoed, and much simpler in style. Unusually, shallow nineteenth century shops have survived towards Cornhill, squeezed between the church and the pavement. The tower is of brick, its leaded cupola topped with a small spire, which is in turn surmounted by a weather vane in the shape of St. Peter’s key.
The interior is aisled, with square arcade piers resting on the medieval pier foundations. The nave is barrel vaulted, while the aisles have transverse barrel vaults. Unusually for a Wren church there is a screen marking the division between nave and chancel. This was installed at the insistence of the rector at the time of rebuilding, William Beveridge
Charles Dickens mentions the churchyard in "Our Mutual Friend". A theatre group called The Players of St Peter were formed at the church in 1946 and performed there until 1987. They are now based at St Clement Eastcheap where its members perform medieval mystery plays each November.
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Read more about this topic: St Peter Upon Cornhill
Famous quotes containing the words present and/or building:
“We do not rest satisfied with the present.... So imprudent we are that we wander in the times which are not ours and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Culture is a sham if it is only a sort of Gothic front put on an iron building—like Tower Bridge—or a classical front put on a steel frame—like the Daily Telegraph building in Fleet Street. Culture, if it is to be a real thing and a holy thing, must be the product of what we actually do for a living—not something added, like sugar on a pill.”
—Eric Gill (1882–1940)