London (England) -- Antiquities; London (England) -- History
A noble gift of Sir Robert Clayton enabled the governors to rebuild the
east cloister and south front. The writing school was erected by Sir
Christopher Wren in 1694, at the expense of Sir John Moore. The ward
over the east side cloister was rebuilt in 1705 by Sir Francis Child,
the banker, and in 1795 the grammar school was erected. Some of the
buildings of the old monastery survived until the beginning of the last
century, but they were somewhat ruinous and unsafe, hence, in 1803,
a great building fund was formed. The hall erected after the great
fire was pulled down, and a vast building in the Tudor style begun in
1825, which was so familiar to all who passed along the eastern end
of Holborn. John Shaw was the architect. You will remember the open
arcade, the buttresses and octagonal towers, and the embattled and
pinnacled walls, and, above all, you will remember the crowd of happy
boys, clad in their picturesque garb, kicking about the merry football.
The dining hall was one of the finest rooms in London, being 187 feet
long, 51 feet wide, and 47 feet high; lighted by nine large windows,
those on the south side being filled with stained glass. There hung the
huge charter picture, representing Edward VI. presenting the charter
to the Lord Mayor, the Chancellor, officers of State, and children of
the school being in attendance. This picture has been attributed to
Holbein, but since the event occurred in 1553, and that artist could
have produced no work later than 1534, the tradition is erroneous. Two
portraits of Edward VI. are also in the possession of the hospital
attributed to Holbein, but they have been proved to be the work of a
later artist. Verrio's portrait of Charles II., and his picture of
James II. receiving the mathematical boys, are very large canvases.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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