King's College Chapel in Cambridge, the most famous example of the sumptuous Perpendicular Gothic style, receives its fan vault, the world’s largest, constructed between 1512 and 1515 by master mason John Wastell.
Henry VI had planned a university counterpart to Eton College (whose chapel is very similar, although unfinished), the chapel being the only portion that was built.
The King decided the dimensions of the Chapel.
The architect of the chapel is disputed.
Reginald Ely, who was commissioned in 1444 as the head press mason, was a possible architect of the chapel.
However, Nicholas Close (or Cloos), was recorded as being the surveyor, which has been generally accepted to be synonymous with architect.
The first stone of the Chapel had been laid, by Henry himself, on St James' Day, July 25, 1446, the College having been begun in 1441.
By the end of the reign of Richard III (1485), despite the Wars of the Roses, five bays had been completed and a timber roof erected.
Henry VII had visited in 1506, paying for the work to resume and even leaving money so that the work could continue after his death.
The building is complete in 1515 under Henry VIII, but the great windows have yet to be made.