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Christopher Wren Signature

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Christopher Wren Signature

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Auction Date:2021 Jan 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Rare ink signature, "Chr. Wren,” on an off-white 4.75 x 4.75 segment of a manuscript ledger page from an account book kept by the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, which was designed by Wren and completed in 1692. Also signed by two other Hospital Commissioners—Lord Ranelagh, the Paymaster General, and Sir Stephen Fox—the partial document is dated April 1700, and the opposite side bears entries that record payments made in April and June 1699; among the recipients were tradesmen including a plumber, plasterer, carpenter, painter, and bricklayer. In fine condition.

The Royal Hospital was founded by King Charles II, who authorized its construction in 1681 to offer care for old or injured soldiers of the monarchy. The acclaimed architect’s structure still stands. Wren's design for the original building was intended to house 412 veteran soldiers and their officers, with additional parts accommodating a Great Hall, chapel, kitchen, infirmary, and officers’ quarters. Work was completed in 1692, five years before Wren’s landmark St. Paul’s Cathedral re-opened. It’s worth noting that the financial theme of this document dates to a period in which the very existence of the project was threatened, as mismanagement and embezzlement by the paymaster-general appointed by King James II delayed construction and hampered the admission of patients. For his part, however, Wren saw to it that financial matters within his creation ran as smoothly as possible.