After the Great Fire of 1666, several architects submitted plans to rebuild the medieval part of central London that had been destroyed. Christopher Wren designed the new St Paul’s Cathedral and many other churches, but his more sweeping proposal — to replace the City of London’s meandering narrow streets with wide avenues spreading out from piazzas — was never realized.
Paul Draper earlier drew a bird’s-eye view for The Sunday Times Magazine of how the city might have been rebuilt, which Ryan Nolan more recently digitalized:
Now Daniel Coughlin has brought Wren’s vision to full life in a video that draws on the architect’s plan, historical maps, engravings, paintings and other reference to show a contemporary London in a world where he got his way.
Check out Coughlin’s YouTube channel, The Curious Compendium of Architectural What-Ifs, for more videos, including about Antoni GaudÃ’s never-built Hotel Attraction in New York.
