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in from the surrounding counties and distributed free of charge. He also issued a royal proclamation declaring that London would be rebuilt, and that it would be grander, safer, and more beautiful than ever before. Rebuilding the Phoenix The destruction of London presented a unique opportunity. For years, visionary intellectuals had complained about the city's medieval layout, with its dark, narrow streets, poor sanitation, and constant threat of disease. Now, they had a blank slate. Within days of the fire's extinguishment, several grand plans for a new London were presented to the King. The most famous of these was designed by Christopher Wren, a brilliant young astronomer and architect. Wren proposed a magnificent, baroque city with wide, radiating avenues, grand piazzas, and a spectacular new St. Paul's Cathedral at its center, reminiscent of the great cities of continental Europe. It was a beautiful, rational dream. But it completely underestimated the stubborn, pragmatic nature of the British public. The property owners of London had no interest in wide, continental avenues if it meant losing a single square inch of their original plots. They wanted their land back, exactly where it had been before the fire. The legal disputes over property boundaries threatened to paralyze the rebuilding effort for decades. To resolve this, the government created a special court known as the Fire Court. A panel of highly respected judges sat daily to hear disputes between landlords and tenants, bypass traditional legal delays, and make quick, final decisions on property lines. It was a rare triumph of practical, common-sense bureaucracy over traditional red tape. While Wren's grand, radiating avenues were ultimately rejected, the city did implement revolutionary new building regulations. The Rebuilding of London Act of 1667 decreed that all new houses must be built of brick or stone, rather than wood. The upper stories of houses were no longer allowed to jut out over the streets, a practice that had previously allowed fires to jump easily from one side of the road to the other. Streets were widened, and the most hazardous, smelly industries, such as tanneries and breweries, were banned from the city center. Christopher Wren may not have gotten his grand avenues, but he was given the monumental task of rebuilding the city's churches. Over the next several decades, he designed fifty-one new parish churches, culminating in his masterpiece, the new St. Paul's Cathedral. With its magnificent dome rising high above the London skyline, the cathedral became a powerful symbol of a city that had literally risen from the ashes. The Birth of Modern Safety The Great Fire also changed the way society managed risk. Before 1666, if your house burned down, you were simply ruined. There was no safety net, no insurance, and no help from the state. This changed thanks to a colorful, somewhat eccentric entrepreneur named Nicholas Barbon. Barbon, who was the son of a famous Puritan leather seller named Praise-God Barebone, realized that the fear of fire could be turned into a highly profitable business. In 1667, he established the first-ever fire insurance company, known simply as the Fire Office. For a small annual fee, home owners could buy insurance that guaranteed their house would be rebuilt if it caught fire. To protect his investments, Barbon did not rely on the incompetent municipal authorities. Instead, he hired his own private brigade of watermen, equipped with their own uniforms and firefighting equipment. Other insurance companies quickly followed suit, each establishing their own private fire brigades. To ensure that the firefighters only put out fires on buildings that were actually insured by their respective companies, they created