1675

The Warrant Design was given royal approval on 14 May 1675 and featured a dome to satisfy the architect, but topped with a tall spire and set on a Latin cross to satisfy the Dean and Chapter. Wren's son wrote: 'The Surveyor resolved to make no more models or pubickly expose his Drawings, which (as he found by Experience) did but lose time, and subjected his Business many Times to incompetent Judges.'

In the 1675 warrant the King gave Wren the freedom to 'make some variations, rather ornamental, than essential, as from Time to Time, he should see proper'. Wren took full advantage, changing the proportions of the building and abandoning the idea of a spire on top of the dome. Today's cathedral, therefore, is very different from the agreed design. 

The first building contracts were confirmed in July 1675. Just thirty-six years later building work was finished, making St Paul's the first English cathedral to be completed during the lifetime of the original architect.