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The Gatehouse to King's College Old Court now forms the West entrance to the Old Schools, opposite the East end of Clare Chapel. In the photograph, it can just be made out in the shadow to the right. Old Court was begun in 1441 and building proceeded rapidly. According to Pevsner this gatehouse is the finest piece of design in the Old Court group, and it was the first in Cambridge to display the ornamental richness that was to continue in the West doorway of King's College Chapel, Christ's Gatehouse and St John's Gatehouse.
The West range of Old Court, including the gatehouse, was left unfinished. Although not executed, the interior of the gateway was designed to have two bays of tierceron vaults, similar to Queens' Gatehouse which was built a few years later. In the first floor of the gatehouse there is a clunch fireplace.
The consensus seems to be that Great Gate, along with the other buildings comprising the North part of Great Court's East range, was started around 1490. William Swayne was the mason at that time. But building progress was slow, and there apears to have been no work between 1505 and 1518. In 1522-23 the gates were paid for; these are the gates that are still hanging. Possibly there were no initial plans for a tower. At any rate, the upper floor was not started until 1528-29, and it was only then that a tower was first mentioned. The corner turrets were added at this time by a mason called John Sherref.
It is built of brick with the the exception of the East front and the quoins of the corner turrets. It is a lot broader and squatter than King Edward's Tower and, unlike its predecessor gatehouses in Cambridge, has a separate pedestrian entrance.
Between the first floor windows is an elaborate niche for an image. This now contains a statue of Henry VIII, carved in 1615 by William Cure the Younger, described by Pevsner as wretched. Pevsner has a similarly low opinion of the statues on the West face.
The statue of Henry VIII is wretched not only in the quality of its carving. It was the victim of a student prank, and now holds a chair leg in place of a sceptre.
The Gatehouse was one of the first parts of the College to be built following the arrival of John Alcock. It has three storeys. The buildings on each each side originally had two storeys, but they gained an extra storey 1718-20.
The Gatehouse is mainly of red brick, though yellow bricks are also used in the upper storey, to create diagonal patterns.
It has a four-centred arch with ogee canopy. The canopy leading up to a central niche, and seemingly supports the statue in the niche. The arch and ogee canopy motif was to be carried forward and developed in the Gatehouses of the two Lady Margaret colleges, Christ's and St John's.
The original windows were replaced in 1720 by the sash windows visible today. The door is mainly original.