Editing Architecture of England (section)

===Stuart architecture===
{{Main|Jacobean architecture|Restoration style|English Baroque}}
[[Image:Queens House 2006.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Queen's House, Greenwich]]
During the 17th century, the continuing advance of Classical forms overrode the eclecticism of English Renaissance architecture, which gave way to a more uniform style derived from continental models, chiefly from Italy. This entailed a retreat from the structural sophistication of Gothic architecture to forms derived from the more primitive construction methods of Classical antiquity. The style was typified by square or round-headed windows and doors, flat ceilings, [[colonnade]]s, [[pilaster]]s, [[pediment]]s and [[dome]]s. Classical architecture in England tended to be relatively plain and simple in comparison with the contemporaneous [[Baroque architecture]] of the continent, being influenced above all by the [[Palladian architecture|Palladian style]] of Italy. This was first introduced to England by [[Inigo Jones]] and typified by his [[Queen's House]] at [[Greenwich, London|Greenwich]].

[[Image:St Paul's Cathedral dome from Paternoster Square - London - 240404.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The [[dome]] of St Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir [[Christopher Wren]]]]
The [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666 forced the reconstruction of much of the city, which was the only part of the country to see a significant amount of church-building between the Reformation and the 19th century. Sir [[Christopher Wren]] was employed to replace many of the destroyed churches, but his master plan for rebuilding London as a whole was rejected. Wren's churches exemplify the distinctive English approach to church-building in the Classical manner, which largely rejected the domes that typified the continental Baroque and employed a wide range of different forms of [[steeple (architecture)|steeple]], experimental efforts to find a substitute for the Gothic [[spire]] within a Classical mode. However, a dome featured very prominently in Wren's grandest construction, [[St Paul's Cathedral]], the only English cathedral in any permutation of the Classical tradition.

The later 17th century saw Baroque architecture – a version of Classicism characterised by heavy massing and ostentatiously elaborate decoration – become widespread in England. Grand Baroque-style country houses began to appear in England during the 1690s, exemplified by [[Chatsworth House]] and [[Castle Howard]]. The most significant English Baroque architects after Wren were Sir [[John Vanbrugh]] and [[Nicholas Hawksmoor]], who adapted the Baroque style to fit English tastes in houses such as [[Blenheim Palace]], [[Seaton Delaval Hall]] and [[Easton Neston house|Easton Neston]].