Hooke, Robert
Hooke, Robert (1635–1703). English scientist and colleague of Wren, he became one of the three Surveyors (the others were Edward Jerman and Peter Mills) for the reconstruction of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666, and was the author of a plan (now lost) for a new layout (not implemented). He seems, with Wren, to have designed the Monument (1671–6), and collaborated on some of the City churches (he was probably responsible for St Benet, Paul's Wharf (1678–84)). He designed Bethlehem Hospital, Moorfields, London (1675–6—demolished), Escot House, Devon (1677–88 demolished, illustrated in vol. 1 of Vitruvius Britannicus); the Royal College of Physicians, Warwick Lane, London (1672–8—demolished); Ragley Hall, Warwicks. (1679–83), subsequently altered by Gibbs (1750–5) and James Wyatt (c.1780); and many other buildings, most of which have been demolished or altered beyond recognition. His planning was strongly influenced by French precedents. He was one of the first to assert the true principles of arcuated construction, notably in relation to catenary curves and ellipses.
Bibliography
Bradley & and Pevsner (1997);
Colvin (1995);
Downes (1966);
Early Science in Oxford, x (1935), 69–265;
'Espinasse (1962);
Jardine (2003);
Keynes (1960);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
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Hooke, Robert