The lowermost stages of the west towers belong to the 12th century, but the rest of the west end is in the profusely detailed Flamboyant Gothic of the 15th century, completed just as the Renaissance was affecting less traditional patrons than bishops, in the pleasure châteaux of Touraine.
15th century Flamboyante Gothic west front with Renaissance pinnacles, 1547
These towers were being constructed at the same time as, for example, Château de Chenonceau, and a few first traces of the new Antique style can be detected in the three uppermost octagonal tiers, with balustrades and pilasters, terminating in overscaled lanterns on tapering roofs that refer to domes.
Henry James complimented the cathedral's "charming mouse-colored complexion."
Inside the triple-naved church, building proceeded as always from the sanctuary and choir, with some of the finest stained glass (13th century), and worked pier by pier down the nave: the choir is 13th century; the transept and east bays of the nave are 14th century; a cloister on the north is contemporary with the facade.
When the 15th century illuminator Jean Fouquet was set the task of illuminating Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, his depiction of Solomon's Temple was modeled after the nearly-complete Cathedral of Tours.
The atmosphere of the Gothic cathedral close permeates Honoré de Balzac's dark short novel of jealousy and provincial intrigues, Le Curé de Tours (The Curate of Tours) and his medieval story Maître Cornelius opens within the cathedral itself.
