The final design for St. Paul’s, as…

The final design for St. Paul’s, as built, differs largely in its ornamentation from the official Warrant design.

Wren has received permission from the king to make "ornamental changes" to the submitted design, and Wren takes great advantage of this.

Many of these changes are to be made over the course of the thirty years as the church is constructed, and the most significant is to the dome: "He raised another structure over the first cupola, a cone of brick, so as to support a stone lantern of an elegant figure... And he covered and hid out of sight the brick cone with another cupola of timber and lead; and between this and the cone are easy stairs that ascend to the lantern" (Christopher Wren, son of Sir Christopher Wren).

The final design is strongly rooted in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

The saucer domes that are eventually added to the design are inspired by François Mansart’s Val-de-Grâce, which Wren had seen during a trip to Paris in 1665.

The first stone of the cathedral is laid in 1677 by Thomas Strong, Wren's master stonemason.