Isaac Newton, architect

It is well known that Isaac Newton had an interest in the Temple of Solomon. Most biographies of Newton mention this interest but little attention, if any, is given to his architectural work on the Temple. Although there is no surviving book of Vitruvius's De Architectura or even one of his commentators in Newton's library, he had a good knowledge of Vitruvius. He mentioned and/or referenced Vitruvius in some of his unpublished papers. For Newton the Temple was built to the 'proportions of the architecture' and these proportions paralleled Vitruvius's norms of architecture. From his early days in Cambridge up until his death Newton remained interested in the Temple, its meaning and its architecture. This paper examines Newton's interest in architecture and his reconstruction of the Temple.