Palace of Westminster

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Clock Tower and New Palace Yard from the west

The Palace of Westminster, on the banks of the River Thames in Westminster, London, is the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which, together with the Queen, form the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is also known as the Houses of Parliament.

History

Buildings have occupied the site since at least Saxon times, though the oldest buildings still in existence date from about 1097. Edward the Confessor established the origins of the present buildings by building a royal palace on the site from 1050, and until 1529 Westminster was the main London residence of successive monarchs. A fire in that year caused Henry VIII to decamp from the Privy Palace at the south end of the site, to the Palace of Whitehall. Despite this, it remains a royal palace to this day.

The Palace of Westminster seen across the River Thames is one of the iconic images of London.

On January 20, 1265 the first meeting of the first English parliament, summoned by Simon de Montfort, was conducted here, and - with some short vacations - has sat here ever since, The House of Commons made its first permanent home in St Stephen's Chapel, a part of the palace. It has, therefore been at the centre of English and then Union government as it progressed from a monarchy to a parliamentary democracy and so has lent its name to the parliamentary system of government known as the Westminster System. And now for more than 900 years this very impressive assemblage of Gothic buildings has been the home of the English government and more recently the centre of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Indeed, it is true that no other place so potently symbolises democracy in the Western world more than this very old establishment.

Much of the ancient structures were destroyed by fire on October 16, 1834, and rebuilt by 1870, when the Parliament moved into their current residences.

The Current Palace

The Palace of Westminster occupies a site of approximately 3.24 hectares (8 acres) on the west bank of the Thames as it runs from south to north on one of its serpentine diversions through the city. The site is bounded to the east by its 266 metres (872ft) waterfront, and to the west by Parliament Square and Millbank. To the north is Portcullis House, a modern office building for MPs and their staff, and beneath which is Westminster tube station. To the south is the Victoria Tower Garden, a small triangle of park between Millbank and the Thames.

The building has approximately 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, and two miles of passageways. Although some parts of the building, such as Westminster Hall predate the 1834 fire, much of the present structure is from the 1870 construction. Some notable parts of the building include (from north to south):

  • The 320ft high slim Clock Tower, undoubtedly the most famous feature, and housing the bell known as Big Ben, from which the Clock Tower is colloquially, but strictly inaccurately named.
  • The House of Commons and the House of Lords, separated by their respective Lobbies, and by a Central Lobby, are at the heart of the building.
  • Above Central Lobby is what appears to be a smaller tower. This is, in fact, the extract chimney for the ventilation of the building and reaches 300ft above the lobby.
  • The Victoria Tower is the square tower to the south west of the building. When built in 1860 it was the tallest structure in the world.
Westminster Hall contains the oldest parts of the palace.
Coronation banquet for George IV at Westminster Hall, July 19, 1821, under the great hammerbeam roof


The design of the present buildings was the result of a national competition, and was the work of Charles Barry assisted by Augustus Pugin. The building is, according to Pevsner, in the Tudor Perpendicular style and combines Picturesque elements with Gothic detail.

The stonework of the building was originally Anstone, a sandy magnesian limestone quarried in the village of Anston near Rotherham, South Yorkshire selected by, amongst others, William Smith, regarded as the father of English Geology. Anstone proved to be unable to withstand the acid conditions of London's smogs, and within ten years of construction was derided as a disgrace. A number of stone replacement projects since then, notably in 1902, have replaced the vast majority of Anstone with Chipsham Stone, a honey-coloured limestone from Lincolnshire.

File:Palace of Westminster - Victoria Tower from the south west - 240404.jpg
Victoria Tower is at the House of Lords end of the palace

Events

On May 11, 1812, Prime Minster Spencer Perceval was assassinated by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons.

On March 30, 1979 Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb as he left the House of Commons car park.

During World War II the House of Commons was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in a May 10, 1941 air raid, but was rebuilt and resumed use on October 26, 1950. In the interim, the Commons sat in the Lords Chamber, with the Lords sitting in the adjacent Kings's Robing Room. Due to the noise of the refurbishments the Law Lords, who had previously used the Lords Chamber, temporarily moved to Committee Room I. Gaining the name 'Appellate Committee', this experiment proved so successful that they decided to remain there after refurbishments had been completed.

See also

Further reading

  • Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England - London 6: Westminster pp. 212-231. Yale University Press 2003. ISBN 0 300 09595 3.
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