Skip to search form

Related subjects:

Related people/organisations:
Photograph: engraving on London after the fire, taken from the south bank. The new St Paul's Cathedral is shown on the skyline. In the foreground is the River Thames.
View of rebuilt London
Photograph: rectangular stone sign carved with the date 1667 and the figures of three kings wearing cloaks and holding orbs and sceptres.
Pub sign
Photograph: black and white map showing London rebuilt after the fire.
Map of London rebuilt after the fire
Double-paged written document. Most of the writing is in fine clerk's handwriting. There is a section of Lord Clarendon's scrawled writing at the bottom of one page.
Lord Clarendon's rebuilding notes
Photograph: proclamation on building regulations printed in black ink on white paper.
Building regulations
Declaration from Charles I after the fire. Title page from this pamphlet. There is a large royal coat of arms in the centre.
Declaration from Charles I after the fire
Title page from the Additional Rebuilding Act of 1670. The page features a royal coat of arms amongst the printed text.
Additional Rebuilding Act, 1670
Title page of Samuel Rolle's book about the rebuilding of London after Great Fire.
'London's Resurrection', by Samuel Rolle

Houses, churches and public buildings

The first priority in the rebuilding was houses and businesses. It was vital to London’s survival that people should move back as soon as possible, and so the public building programme for churches was delayed until the 1670s. The Rebuilding Act detailed the four types of buildings allowed; two-storied houses on lanes, three-storied on street fronts, four-storied on principal streets, and mansion houses of ‘greatest bigness’ for merchants and other wealthy citizens. These were all to be faced in brick instead of wood.

The public building programme was financed by a new coal tax. Key buildings such as the Guildhall, Customs House, Royal Exchange, prisons, as well as churches and St Paul’s Cathedral were paid for by the tax. Also funded was the street widening scheme (owners were compensated for any reductions in their property), and the Fleet Canal and Thames wharf improvements.
    The Museum of London Group is funded by the City of London and the Greater London Authority. Museum of London, London Wall, LONDON EC2Y 5HN, United Kingdom. Copyright Museum of London. Legal notices & Disclaimer. This site is maintained by the Museum Systems Team.