Hampton Court Palace plan with grand apartments on a raised piano nobile, all rendered with classical detailing. The historian Jonathan Foyle has suggested that it is likely that Wolsey had been inspired by Paolo Cortese's "De Cardinalatu", a manual for cardinals that included advice on palatial architecture, published in 1510. The architectural historian Sir John Summerson asserts that the palace shows "the essence of Wolsey—the plain English churchman who nevertheless made his sovereign the arbiter of Europe and who built and furnished Hampton Court to show foreign embassies that Henry VIII's chief minister knew how to live as graciously as any cardinal in
The Old Court House Paul’s Cathedral. At each Royal palace, the Surveyor General had lodgings. These at Hampton Court became the Old Court House Built in 1536. Wren’s biggest task at Hampton Court was the construction of the Eastern part of Hampton Court Palace (the square part) including the main East and South fronts, and Fountain Court. William and Mary had wanted to rebuild Hampton Court Palace entirely, but with the early death of Mary in 1694, King William lost heart. The project was only half done. Hampton Court was left as it remains today, half Tudor and half Wren. Wren, already aged 76,