1540s in architecture

Events

1545 – Part of the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice collapses, causing the architect, Jacopo Sansovino, to be imprisoned briefly.
1546 – Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
1549 – The spire of Lincoln Cathedral in England is blown down.^[1]

1540
- Kamran's Baradari in Lahore completed
- Approximate date of completion of some of the Device Forts on the coast of England: Calshot, Deal, Sandgate, Sandown and Walmer Castles
- Approximate date of the construction of Santa Cecilia Chapel in Għajnsielem, Gozo, Malta
c. 1541
- Portland Castle on the Isle of Portland, England, completed
- Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque in the Purana Qila in Delhi completed
1541–1544 – Old Hall of Berkhamsted School in England built
1542
- Andrea Palladio completes his first commission at Villa Godi, first of his Palladian villas of Veneto; the neighbouring Villa Piovene is completed at about the same time
- Church of Saint Lucius, designed by Tommaso Rodari in the style of Bramante, is completed at its original location in Lugano, Switzerland
- Approximate date of completion of more of the Device Forts on the coast of England: Pendennis and St Mawes Castles in Cornwall, East Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight and Sandsfoot Castle at Weymouth, Dorset

1543 – Lighthouse of Genoa completed in surviving form
1543–1548 – Mimar Sinan builds his first significant architectural commission, Şehzade Mosque in Istanbul.
1544 – King's College Chapel, Cambridge completed
1544–1549 – Xuanfu–Datong section of Ming Great Wall of China constructed
c. 1546 – Loggetta del Sansovino of St Mark's Campanile in Piazza San Marco, Venice, designed by Jacopo Sansovino, is completed
1547
- Construction of the Château de Chambord ceases on the death of Francis I of France
- Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight is completed
1548–1549 – Villa Pojana, one of the Palladian villas of Veneto, is built.

1543: June 25 – Giovanni Mangone, Italian sculptor, architect, military engineer and antiquarian
1546
- August 3 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (born 1484)
- November 1 – Giulio Romano, Italian painter and architect (born c. 1449)