Palace of Westminsters

PALACE OF WESTMINSTERS
ABOUT
LOCATION – WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND
AREA – 112476 m2
BUILT – 1016
DEMOLISHED – 1834 (DUE TO FIRE)

REBUILT – 1840-76
ARCHITECURAL STYLE – GOTHIC REVIVAL
ARCHITECT – CHARLES BARRY , AUGUSTUS PUGIN
HISTORY
At 6:20pm on the evening of October 16, 1834, a fire began in the old Palace of
Westminster in London– the foremost seat of parliamentary governance for both
the United Kingdom and the British Empire across the seas. The inferno, which
burned until the early hours of the morning, destroyed so much of the medieval
complex that neither restoration nor preservation were considered viable options –
a new palace would have to rise from the ashes to surround the largely undamaged
Westminster Hall. The fire gave the United Kingdom a chance not only to replace
what was considered as an outdated, patchwork of government buildings, but to
erect a Gothic Revival landmark to spiritually embody the pre-eminence of the
United Kingdom across the world, and the roots of modern democracy.
From the late 11th century until the reign of Henry VIII, the Palace of
Westminster served as a royal residence.
Various monarchs of England and the subsequent United Kingdom (England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) made their own additions and
renovations to the palace as the centuries passed.
The Great Hall of the palace, now known as Westminster Hall, was
completed in 1099 by William II; Richard II would later remodel the space,
removing the Norman columns that supported the roof and replacing them
with a “hammerbeam” wooden roof that remains in place to this day. After
Henry VIII moved the royal residence away from Westminster in 1534, the
palace transitioned to use by the British Parliament.
the House of Commons (the elected body of the government) launched a
design competition for the new Palace of Westminster, they specified that
entries must be in either Neo-Gothic or Neo-Elizabethan styles – a symbolic
gesture that would connect the new building to the order, stability, and
prowess of the nation’s past.
A rectangular site, measuring roughly 800 by 350 feet (244 by 107 meters)
along the bank of the Thames River, was laid out for the competitors..
Alongside preserving Westminster Hall, architects were required to provide
chambers for both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, a variety of
offices, and accommodations for officials who needed to be on call at all times.
Charles Barry – architect of numerous churches, country houses (including
Highclere Castle, of Downton Abbey fame), and civic buildings.[5]
The foundation stone for the Palace was laid on April 27, 1840 by Sarah
Barry, Charles Barry’s wife. From that moment, 775,000 cubic feet of stone
were shipped in and assembled into a palace comprising 1,180 rooms, two
miles of corridors, and 126 staircases. The chosen stone was a sandy
limestone from Anston Quarry in Yorkshire and, while the material was
comparatively cheap and suited to intricate carving, it proved ineffective at
withstanding the coal pollution for which industrial London was notorious
and ultimately had to be replaced between 1928 and 1960.
The final, built incarnation of the new Palace of Westminster featured a full
914 feet of horizontal frontage along the River Thames, punctuated by raised
turrets and the three main towers that dominate the complex.[9] Victoria
Tower, the tallest and largest of the three, was built to crown the Sovereign’s
Entrance (as, according to tradition, the Monarch may never tread near the
House of Commons) and to house Parliament records. The Central Tower,
which was built for ventilation, takes the form of a spire, visually contrasting
it with the towers at either end of the Palace. The clock tower, very recently
named Elizabeth Tower in homage to Queen Elizabeth II, yet commonly
known as Big Ben, presented a challenge to Barry who struggled to produce a
design that made the clock itself sufficiently prominent. The ultimate solution
was to project the clock story out from the sides of the tower; the four clock
faces themselves were designed by Pugin.
The new Palace of Westminster was finally completed in 1867, 33 years after fire had
consumed its medieval predecessor. Its Gothic splendor, while recalling the the
continuity of the past, became a potent symbol of a changing nation; when revolutions
overturned much of Europe, the United Kingdom’s parliamentary reforms defused the
worst of the upheaval in the British Isles. The monumental new Houses of Parliament,
while garbed in an interpretation of time gone by, stood as a prominent icon of a newer,
more democratic order – one that has survived both the ravages of time and the Blitz of
the Second World War to remain one of London’s most iconic architectural landmarks.
THANK YOU!!
THANKYOU AGAIN

Palace of Westminsters

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PALACE OF WESTMINSTERS

DEMOLISHED – 1834 (DUE TO FIRE)

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