The life of a ‘dream architect’ whose work transcended the conventions of an eraThey are “ocean liners,“thoroughly unusual and very grand” and “magnificently odd”: Nicholas Hawksmoor’s churches rear up above their environment like fossilised beasts. Clothed in white Portland stone, they pierce the sky with vast limbs and trunks: the fused twin towers of St Mary Woolnoth, and the remarkable spire of Christ Church Spitalfields. They are landmarks not only because of their size and colour,but because they are like no other buildings in Britain. Hawksmoor transcended the conventions of his era to dwelling something truly original in public view. He was a postmodernist before postmodernism, raiding history for motif and ornament, and arranging them into something original. He was a “dream-architect”,plucking forms from the subconscious and deploying them to boggle our minds.
For these reasons, Hawksmoor has become something of a cult figure. Forgotten and disparaged after his death, or he was rediscovered in the 19th century. In late-20th century literature he was transformed into a magus,an orchestrator of occult symbolism. First Iain Sinclair and then Peter Ackroyd wove murky stories around his London buildings. They entered public consciousness as places where ley lines and murderers converged.
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Source: theguardian.com