Wren’s contribution to Greenwich was, therefore, the two superb quadrangular blocks with open sides adorned with colonnades and the big idea of planning which pulled together the work of four reigns into a coherent and superb whole. The duality of the domes is a most notable feature, and their individual design is beautifully differentiated from the grander scale of St. Paul’s. They are domestic, rather than church-like, in conception. That Hawksmoor in his capacity as Deputy-Surveyor had a somewhat free hand in designing part of the work after 1705, that Vanbrugh succeeded Wren as Surveyor in 1716, that Colin Campbell took up the task ten years later, and that Ripley superseded him in 1729, does not deprive Wren of the title of architect of the Hospital. In so far as they departed from his original designs the buildings suffered, especially from the baldness of the Campbell elements and the heavy-handedness of the ex-carpenter Ripley. Wren’s planning, his domes and his colonnades, make Greenwich the noblest of English public buildings in the Grand Manner. The view of the Palace from the Thames is magnificent and has been an inspiration to artists ever since. Abroad, it would be an objective to all travellers. CHAPTER X OTHER BUILDINGS: PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC This volume has no claim to be a biography of Wren: still less is it a _catalogue raisonné_ of his buildings. Familiar students of his work will be merciful if they find a bare reference, or none, to something they may regard as peculiarly satisfying and notably Wrennish. I can but plead the limitations of a little book. But some of his buildings not included in earlier chapters must be at least mentioned, if shortly and in a disjointed list. Amongst public works the Monument takes a prominent if rather unsatisfactory place. The design was subjected to a good deal of interference, for Hawksmoor records that the flaming urn was substituted as a crowning feature for the intended statue of Charles _contra architecti intentionem_. Amongst the pedestals of equestrian statues in London, there is none to compare with that of Charles I. at Charing Cross, which was probably of Wren’s designing, but it has been attributed also to Grinling Gibbons.