WESTMINSTER ABBEY: ENGLAND'S CORONATION CHURCH, FROM GOTHIC MASONS TO HAWKSMOOR

There is no building in Britain that carries more history per square metre. Westminster Abbey has been the coronation church of every English and British monarch since 1066, the burial place of kings, queens, poets and scientists, and — almost incidentally — one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe. It is also, for our purposes, the last great work of Nicholas Hawksmoor: the famous west towers, so familiar from a thousand photographs that most visitors assume they are medieval, were in fact designed by a Baroque architect and completed in 1745, seven centuries after the Abbey's story began.

That long, layered construction history is what makes the Abbey architecturally fascinating. It is not one building but a conversation between builders across seven hundred years — each generation adding to the work of the last, and each, remarkably, choosing continuity over fashion.

By Gavin Paisley — Updated 7 July 2026

Photograph by Lewis Clarke, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Looking for a Westminster Abbey model?

Our Westminster Abbey PopArc captures the Abbey's celebrated west front — Hawksmoor's towers included — as a dimensional plaster relief. Unlike a print or a flat graphic, the PopArc retains genuine three-dimensional depth: the towers, tracery and buttresses are modelled in plaster, so the piece catches light and casts real shadow on the wall, changing character through the day just as the Portland stone original does. It is available in six colourways.

What is Westminster Abbey?

Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic church in Westminster, London, standing beside the Palace of Westminster. Formally the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, it is a Royal Peculiar — a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch rather than a bishop — and despite its scale and status it is not a cathedral. It has hosted every coronation since 1066 and is the burial or memorial site of more than three thousand people, from Edward the Confessor and Elizabeth I to Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and the Unknown Warrior. Together with the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Facts panel

Gothic church and Royal Peculiar, Westminster. Present church begun 1245; west towers completed 1745.

  • Architects: Henry of Reyns (from 1245); Henry Yevele (nave, from the late fourteenth century); Nicholas Hawksmoor (west towers, completed by John James)
  • Commission: Henry III (rebuilding); Chapter of Westminster (west towers)
  • Begun: 1245 (present church); 1735 (west towers)
  • Completed: 1745 (west towers, completing the west front)
  • Address: 20 Dean's Yard, Westminster, London SW1P 3PA, England
  • Height: approximately 31 metres (nave vault); approximately 69 metres (west towers)
  • Materials: stone; Portland stone for the west towers
  • Architectural style: Gothic; Perpendicular Gothic (Henry VII Chapel); Gothic idiom by a Baroque architect (west towers)
  • Original use: Benedictine abbey church
  • Current use: Working church; coronation church; Royal Peculiar

Designation: Grade I listed; UNESCO World Heritage Site (1987)

The architects of Westminster Abbey

No single name will do. The present church was begun in 1245 for Henry III under the master mason Henry of Reyns, whose name suggests a connection with Reims in France — fittingly, since the design draws directly on the great French cathedrals. From the late fourteenth century the nave was carried forward by Henry Yevele, the outstanding English master mason of his age. And the west towers that complete the composition were designed at the very end of his life by Nicholas Hawksmoor, Surveyor to the Abbey from 1723, who died in 1736 before they were finished; John James saw them to completion in 1745.

A French cathedral on English soil

Henry III's rebuilding, begun in 1245, imported the architecture of thirteenth-century France more completely than any other English church. The proportions tell the story: where English Gothic churches tended to be long and comparatively low, the Abbey soars — its nave vault, at roughly 31 metres, is the tallest medieval vault in England, and the apse-and-radiating-chapels plan of the east end is straightforwardly French. The models were the coronation church at Reims, the nave of Amiens, and the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Henry III was building a coronation church to rival the French monarchy's own, and the ambition is legible in every bay.

Seven centuries of keeping faith

What happened next is nearly as remarkable as the original design. When work resumed on the nave in the late fourteenth century under Henry Yevele — more than a hundred years after Henry III's masons stopped — the new work continued the thirteenth-century design rather than adopting the Perpendicular fashion of its own day. The result is an interior of unusual coherence for a building constructed across centuries: most visitors cannot see the join. That decision to defer to the existing building established a pattern of architectural good manners that would matter again three hundred years later, when Hawksmoor faced the unfinished west front.

The Henry VII Chapel

The great exception to the Abbey's restraint is glorious. The Lady Chapel at the east end, begun under Henry VII in 1503, is the last blaze of English medieval architecture: Perpendicular Gothic at its most extravagant, with a fan-vaulted ceiling hung with carved stone pendants that appears to defy structural sense. It was described by one early observer as a wonder of the world, and the phrase has stuck. The chapel houses the tomb of Henry VII by the Florentine sculptor Pietro Torrigiano — Renaissance Italy arriving inside an English Gothic casket.

Photograph by Whythealgarve, licensed under CC0 1.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph by Robert Lamb, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Hawksmoor's towers: Gothic by a Baroque master

For nearly five hundred years the Abbey's west front stood unfinished, its towers stopping abruptly at roof level. The completion fell to Nicholas Hawksmoor, appointed Surveyor of the Abbey in 1723 — by then the architect of Christ Church Spitalfields and St Mary Woolnoth, and England's most inventive classicist.

What he produced is one of the most sophisticated acts of architectural tact in Britain. The towers, built in Portland stone from 1735 and rising to roughly 69 metres, read as Gothic — pinnacles, pointed openings, buttressed corners — and they defer to the medieval building below. But look closely and Hawksmoor's classical instincts show through: the clock faces sit in Baroque surrounds, the mouldings and massing have a weight and geometry no medieval mason would have produced, and the whole composition is controlled with the same monumental discipline as his London churches. Architectural historians have argued ever since about whether to call it Gothic survival or the first stirring of the Gothic Revival. Hawksmoor died in 1736 with the towers barely begun above the roofline; John James completed them faithfully to his designs in 1745. They are now the most photographed elevation of the building — the image most people mean when they picture Westminster Abbey.

The Abbey and the nation

The architecture is inseparable from what the building is for. Every coronation since William the Conqueror's on Christmas Day 1066 has taken place here, most recently that of Charles III in May 2023. Poets' Corner in the south transept has gathered the memorials of English literature since Chaucer's burial; the scientists' corner in the nave holds Newton, Darwin and Hawking; and the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, placed just inside the west door in 1920, is the one floor memorial in the Abbey on which no one ever walks.

The model-maker's lens

  • Where the eye goes: the west front is the Abbey's defining view — the twin Hawksmoor towers, the great west window between them, and the deep vertical rhythm of buttress and pinnacle. Our PopArc concentrates on exactly this elevation.
  • The detail that matters: the interplay of Gothic tracery and Hawksmoor's crisper classical geometry. Capturing both idioms on one façade — and keeping them legible — is the modelling challenge this building sets.
  • How it reads at small scale: strongly vertical. The towers' stage-by-stage stepping and the recessed west window give the relief natural depth, so the piece reads clearly across a room, with the fine tracery rewarding a closer look.
  • How to display it: as a PopArc wall piece it belongs where raking light can work on it — the plaster relief casts genuine shadow, and the façade changes character between morning and evening light, just as the Portland stone does at full scale.

Visiting Westminster Abbey

The Abbey is open to visitors most days, with paid admission for sightseeing; entry for worship and services is free, and the church closes to tourism on Sundays for services. The nearest Underground stations are Westminster and St James's Park. Opening hours, prices and closures change frequently — particularly around royal and state events — so check the Abbey's official website before travelling rather than relying on any published guide, including this one.

Frequently asked questions

Who designed Westminster Abbey?

No single architect designed Westminster Abbey. The present church was begun in 1245 under the master mason Henry of Reyns, continued by Henry Yevele from the late fourteenth century, and completed by the west towers of Nicholas Hawksmoor, finished in 1745.

What architectural style is Westminster Abbey?

Westminster Abbey is Gothic — strongly influenced by thirteenth-century French cathedrals — with the Henry VII Chapel in late Perpendicular Gothic and west towers designed in a Gothic idiom by the Baroque architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.

When was Westminster Abbey built?

The first Westminster Abbey was consecrated in 1065 under Edward the Confessor. The present church was begun in 1245 for Henry III, and construction continued in phases until the west towers were completed in 1745.

Did Nicholas Hawksmoor design Westminster Abbey?

Hawksmoor did not design Westminster Abbey itself, but he designed its famous west towers as Surveyor of the Abbey. He died in 1736 and the towers were completed to his designs by John James in 1745.

How tall are Westminster Abbey's west towers?

The west towers of Westminster Abbey rise to approximately 69 metres (about 225 feet).

Is Westminster Abbey a cathedral?

No — despite its size, Westminster Abbey is not a cathedral. It is a Royal Peculiar, a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch rather than a bishop, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster.

Why is Westminster Abbey famous?

Westminster Abbey has hosted every coronation since 1066, is the burial place of monarchs, poets and scientists including Newton and Darwin, holds the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Can you visit Westminster Abbey?

Yes — Westminster Abbey is open to visitors most days with paid admission, while attendance at services is free. Check the Abbey's official website for current opening times and prices before visiting.

Related pages

Sources

  • Westminster Abbey official website (westminster-abbey.org) — history and visiting information
  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret's Church listing (whc.unesco.org)
  • Kerry Downes, Hawksmoor (Thames & Hudson) — on Hawksmoor's surveyorship and the west towers