Gothic architecture the tallest cathedral tower in France is Rouen Cathedral, and Cologne Cathedral (151.0 meters or 495 feet) is the tallest cathedral in Europe. The Gothic Old St Paul's Cathedral (1087–1314) had been the tallest cathedral in England until it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Today the tallest combined Gothic tower and spire in the UK belongs to Salisbury Cathedral, (123 meters or 404 feet), built 1220–1258. In Italy, the tower, if present, is almost always detached from the building, as at Florence Cathedral, and is often from an earlier structure. In France and Spain, two
Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral building, as part of a wider phase of citywide construction and renovation. Only the earlier spire was retained for the new building. The older part of this church was described in 1862 as Doric in style, attached to a featureless modern tower with an "ill-formed" spire. The building was widely considered to be poorly designed. The "Dublin Builder" described it as "a shabby apology for a cathedral which has long disgraced Cork", while "The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland" judged it "a plain, massive, dull, tasteless, oblong pile, totally destitute of what is usually regarded as cathedral character, and possessing hardly