Nicholas Hawksmoor: Rebuilding Ancient Wonders. (Monumental Faith).(Book Review)

By Vaughan Hart. London: Yale University Press, 2002. [pounds sterling]35

Like Soane, Hawksmoor was rediscovered in the twentieth century when the starkness and originality of both architects exercised a special appeal. Hart's enthralling study now claims that Hawksmoor gave permanent monumental form in many styles to the fundamental beliefs of his time: Christianity, Monarchy, Trade, Reason, Liberty, and Freemasonry, against a background of expanding scientific and geographic horizons in which attempts were made to reconcile faith with modern science. He quotes Defoe's…