1682 – Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford

Architect: Christopher Wren

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Tom Tower is a bell tower and the main entrance of Christ Church College. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facetted ogee dome was designed by Christopher Wren and built 1681–82. The gatehouse had been unfinished since 1529, when Cardinal Wolsey fell from power. Wren advocated that it “ought to be Gothick to agree with the Founders worke”. Wren never came to supervise the structure and it was being erected by the stonemason he had recommended, Christopher Kempster, of Burford.

Published April 15, 2013