Over the centuries, various archbishops carried out much demolition and construction to Lambeth Palace. In 1490, under the supervision of Archbishop John Morton, large-scale building work to the archbishop's residences reached a peak. Probably the most famous tower at Lambeth, the great gatehouse, was built by Morton. A fine red-brick structure, it was used as a porter's lodging and prison, lodging chambers for the archbishops' staff and as the registry and 'evidence chamber' for the archbishops' prerogative court.

Remarkably, the porters' lodge is still in use as the porters' lodge after more than five hundred years. Serious damage was sufferred by the Palace during the Second World War. This was during the Blitz in 1940-01. Three years later in July 1944, further damage was inflicted by the 'flying bombs' resulting in the chapel doors being blown off their hinges. These 13th-century doors had already been hit and their final loss was a tragedy. By the end of the war much of the Palace was in ruins but luckily the important manuscripts survived, though many books in Juxon's great hall were destroyed.
Since the War Years, an on-going programme of renewal and restoration has ensured that the Palace remains, after almost 900 years of continuous use, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury.