Rebuilding of London Act 1666

The Rebuilding of London Act 1666 (18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 8)^[a] was an act of the Parliament of England with the long title "An Act for rebuilding the City of London."^[1] The Act was passed in February 1667 in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London and drawn up by Sir Matthew Hale. An earlier act, the Fire of London Disputes Act 1666(18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 7), had set up a court to settle disputes arising from buildings destroyed by the Fire. This act regulated the rebuilding, authorised the City of London Corporation to reopen and widen roads, designated the anniversary of the Fire a feast day, and authorised the building of the Monument.^[2] A duty of one shilling^[d] on a chaldron^[e] of coal was imposed to pay for these measures.^[3][4]

Rebuilding of London Act 1666

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for rebuilding the City of London.
Citation	18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 8[a] 19 Cha. 2. c. 3[b]
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	8 February 1667
Commencement	21 September 1666[c]
Repealed	1 January 1849
Other legislation
Amended by	Rebuilding of London Act 1670
Repealed by	City of London Sewers Act 1848
Relates to	Fire of London Disputes Act 1666 Rebuilding of London (Disputes) Act 1670 Fire of London, Property Disputes Act 1672
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Building regulations

Within a few days of the fire, several proposals for restructuring the city had been put forward by various leading citizens, including Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, and John Evelyn.^[5] Most of the suggested plans involved restructuring the medieval city's roads into a grid pattern, and were rejected on the grounds that re-parcelling all the land would have been too difficult, time-intensive, and costly.^[5] Keeping Londoners in the city and salvaging its economy were top priorities, and thus the act focused on putting straightforward, common-sense building regulations into place as soon as possible. In order to prevent improper construction by over-eager Londoners, the act included a provision to demolish any new buildings that had been erected without adhering to the act's regulations.^[1] Measures were included to attract workmen to the city, and to prevent price gouging of materials or labour.^[1]

Among other things, the act added or modified regulations to:^[1]

• Architectural styles of buildings on designated High Streets
• Heights of private homes
• Building materials (brick and stone preferred)
• Wall thicknesses
• Street widths
• Buildings within 40 feet of the Thames
• Jetties and similar overhangs (banned)

Subsequent developments

The overall effect was meant to be “harmonious and orderly, [but] without excessive standardisation.”^[6]

Between 1667 and 1670, the coal tax only raised £23,000 of the expected £100,000; the duty was later increased to 3 shillings in the Rebuilding of London Act 1670 (22 Cha. 2. c. 11) in order to raise enough money to fund the rebuilding the city's churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral.^[7]

The whole act was repealed by section 1 of the City of London Sewers Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. clxiii).

See also

• Rebuilding of London Act 1670
• Great Fire of London

Notes

1. This is the citation in The Statutes of the Realm.
2. This is the citation in The Statutes at Large.
3. Start of session.
4. about £11 today
5. at the time weighing approximately 2.67 tonnes (2.63 long tons)