Saint Martin-in-the-Fields

The interior of St. Mary-le -Strand, cramped by the island site, afforded little opportunity for development, but at St. Martin-in-the-Fields there was space enough and the Baroque in England took on its earlier continental meaning. Europe had long since abandoned the flowing spatial forms which belonged principally to Borromini (1599-1667) and was now, especially in Germany and Spain, indulging in the richest excesses of visual ornamentation ever seen. France at ths time was also engaged in the appllication of Rococo ornament in the interiors of salons, so, by contemporary standards, Gibbs was academic and severe. Gibbs, although in imitation of Wren, modified his applications of Baroque styles to suit his patrons. His first design for the church called for a round church with twelve columns around a concentric gallery with an elongated apse in the chancel. The final design consisted of a rectangular nave with galleries. Concave-splayed walls faced the chancel which seems plain and shallow-unlike Baroque models. The interior Corinthian order is carried over to the outside, with piers and columns at the ends which make a symmetrical elevation. The clear-glass window of the chancel dominates the interior.