<P> Wren proposed to build main thoroughfares north and south, and east and west, to insulate all the churches in conspicuous positions, to form the most public places into large piazzas, to unite the halls of the 12 chief livery companies into one regular square annexed to the Guildhall, and to make a fine quay on the bank of the river from Blackfriars to the Tower of London . Wren wished to build the new streets straight and in three standard widths of thirty, sixty and ninety feet . Evelyn's plan differed from Wren's chiefly in proposing a street from the church of St Dunstan's in the East to the St Paul's, and in having no quay or terrace along the river . These plans were not implemented, and the rebuilt city generally followed the streetplan of the old one, and most of it has survived into the 21st century . </P> <P> Nonetheless, the new City was different from the old one . Many aristocratic residents never returned, preferring to take new houses in the West End, where fashionable new districts such as St. James's were built close to the main royal residence, which was Whitehall Palace until it was destroyed by fire in the 1690s, and thereafter St. James's Palace . The rural lane of Piccadilly sprouted courtiers mansions such as Burlington House . Thus the separation between the middle class mercantile City of London, and the aristocratic world of the court in Westminster became complete . </P> <P> In the City itself there was a move from wooden buildings to stone and brick construction to reduce the risk of fire . Parliament's Rebuilding of London Act 1666 stated "building with brick (is) not only more comely and durable, but also more safe against future perils of fire". From then on only doorcases, window - frames and shop fronts were allowed to be made of wood . </P> <P> Christopher Wren's plan for a new model London came to nothing, but he was appointed to rebuild the ruined parish churches and to replace St Paul's Cathedral . His domed baroque cathedral was the primary symbol of London for at least a century and a half . As city surveyor, Robert Hooke oversaw the reconstruction of the City's houses . The East End, that is the area immediately to the east of the city walls, also became heavily populated in the decades after the Great Fire . London's docks began to extend downstream, attracting many working people who worked on the docks themselves and in the processing and distributive trades . These people lived in Whitechapel, Wapping, Stepney and Limehouse, generally in slum conditions . </P>

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