How The Great Fire Of London Changed Planning

"It is in discussing the Fire's consequences for London's urban planning that Tinniswood (whose background is in architectural history) comes into its own. The Fire created a tabula rasa for urban design that provided an unparalleled opportunity for architects and town planners, and the book offers a fascinating survey of the various Londons that might have been. These range from the Richard Newcourt's grid-pattern scheme for 55 uniform blocks, a sort of Manhattan-on-Thames; to John Evelyn's for a city with "open piazzas"; and Christopher Wren's magnificent scheme for a series a broad triumphal avenues and axial vistas connecting the City's major public buildings (in the manner of 17th-century Rome) - the solution approved by both Charles II and his Privy Council."