FT271


The myth

When Sir Christopher Wren was designing the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, he envisaged an unsupported ceiling. His patrons, convinced that such a structure would collapse, insisted that he insert some columns. He reluctantly agreed – but years later, maintenance workers discovered that the columns stopped a few inches short of the ceiling. Wren had secretly ensured his posthumous vindication.


The “truth”

There are no columns of any kind in the Sheldonian – so that seems to be the end of that. However, this story is also attached to various other Wren buildings, most notably Windsor Town Hall (aka Windsor Guildhall), a project which Wren saw to completion after its original architect had died.