This consists of a fluted column 202 feet in height, designed by Wren, and erected in 1671-77 in commemoration of the Great Fire of London which on September 2nd to the 7th 1666 destroyed 460 streets with 89 churches and 13,200 houses, valued at �7,335,000. The height of the column is said to equal its distance from the house in Pudding Lane in which the fire broke out. A winding staircase of 345 steps ascends the column to a platform enclosed by an iron cage (added to put a stop to suicides from the monument), above which rises a gilt urn with blazing flames 42 feet in height.[text accompanying photograph]

Image and text scanned by Nathalie Chevalier.