The Palace of Westminster lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London, England.

The current fortification serves as a meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the United Kingdom Parliament.

Origins & History

It's name, which derives from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey, may refer to several historic structures but most often: the Old Palace, a medieval building-complex largely destroyed by fire in 1834, or it's replacement, the New Palace that stands today.

The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and, for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence but committees appointed by both houses manage the building and report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and to the Lord Speaker.

The first royal palace constructed on the site dated from the 11th century, and Westminster became the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed the royal apartments in 1512. The remainder of Westminster continued to serve as the home of the Parliament of England, which had met there since the 13th century, and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and around Westminster Hall.

In 1834 an even greater fire ravaged the heavily rebuilt Houses of Parliament, and the only significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, and the Jewel Tower.

In the subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace, the architect Charles Barry (1795-1860) won with a design for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style, specifically inspired by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th-16th centuries.

The remains of the Old Palace were incorporated into it's much larger replacement, which contains over 1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two series of courtyards and which has a floor area of 112,476 m2. Part of the New Palace's area of 3.24 hectares was reclaimed from the River Thames, which is the setting of it's nearly 300 metre long façade, called the River Front.

Augustus Pugin (1812-1852), a leading authority on Gothic architecture and style, assisted Charles Barry (1795-1860) and designed the interior of the Palace.

Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great delays and cost overruns, as well as the death of both leading architects but works for the interior decoration continued intermittently well into the 20th century.

Major conservation work has taken place since then to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, and extensive repairs followed the Second World War (1939-1945), including the reconstruction of the Commons Chamber following it's bombing in 1941.

The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the United Kingdom Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace.

The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, often referred to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, has become an iconic landmark of London and of the United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and an emblem of parliamentary democracy.

The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Old Palace

The site of the Palace of Westminster was strategically important during the Middle Ages, as it was located on the banks of the River Thames.

Known in medieval times as Thorney Island, the site may have been first-used for a royal residence by Canute the Great (995-1035) during his reign from 1016 to 1035.

St Edward the Confessor (1003-1066), the penultimate Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, built a royal palace on Thorney Island just west of the City of London at about the same time as he built Westminster Abbey (1045-1050).

Thorney Island and the surrounding area soon became known as Westminster, a portmanteau of the words west and minster.

Neither the buildings used by the Anglo-Saxons nor those used by William I (c.1028-1087) survive and the oldest existing part of the Palace, Westminster Hall, dates from the reign of William I's (c.1028-1087) successor, King William II (1060-1100).

The Palace of Westminster functioned as the English monarchs' principal residence in the late Medieval period and the predecessors of Parliament, the Witenagemot and the Curia Regis, met in Westminster Hall, although they followed the King when he moved to other palaces.

Simon de Montfort's (1208-1265) Parliament, the first to include representatives of the major towns, met at the Palace in 1265. This model parliament, the first official parliament of England, met there that year, and almost all subsequent English parliaments have met in the Palace. However, in 1512, during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII (1491-1547), fire destroyed the royal residential area of the palace.

In 1534 Henry VIII (1491-1547) acquired York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1473-1530), a powerful minister who had lost the King's favour and renaming it the Palace of Whitehall, Henry (1491-1547) used it as his principal residence.

Although Westminster officially remained a royal palace, it was used by the two Houses of Parliament and by the various royal law courts.

Being originally a royal residence, the Palace included no purpose-built chambers for the two Houses and important state ceremonies took place in the Painted Chamber, originally built in the 13th century as the main bedchamber for King Henry III (1207-1272).

In 1801 the Upper House moved into the larger White Chamber, which had housed the Court of Requests; the expansion of the peerage by King George III (1738-1820) during the first ministry of William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), along with the imminent Act of Union with Ireland, necessitated the move, as the original chamber could not accommodate the increased number of peers.

The House of Commons, which did not have a chamber of it's own, sometimes held it's debates in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. However, the Commons acquired a permanent home at the Palace in St Stephen's Chapel, the former chapel of the royal palace, during the reign of Edward VI (1537-1553).

In 1547 the building became available for the Commons' use following the disbanding of St Stephen's College.

Alterations were made to St Stephen's Chapel over the following three centuries for the convenience of the lower House, gradually destroying, or covering up, it's original mediaeval appearance

A major renovation project undertaken by Christopher Wren (1632-1723) in the late-17th century completely redesigned the building's interior.

The Palace of Westminster as a whole underwent significant alterations from the 18th century onwards, as Parliament struggled to carry out it's business in the limited available space of ageing buildings. Calls for an entirely new palace went unheeded, instead more buildings of varying quality and style were added.

A new west façade, known as the Stone Building, facing onto St Margaret's Street, was designed by John Vardy (1718-1765) and built in the Palladian style between 1755 and 1770, providing more space for document storage and for committee rooms.

The House of Commons Engrossing Office of Henry Robert Gunnell (1724-1794) and Edward Barwell was on the lower floor beside the corner tower at the west side of John Vardy's (1718-1765) western façade.

A new official residence for the Speaker of the House of Commons was built adjoining St Stephen's Chapel and completed in 1795.

The neo-Gothic architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) carried out works both on the House of Lords and on the House of Commons between 1799 and 1801, including alterations to the exterior of St Stephen's Chapel and a much-derided new neo-Gothic building adjoining the House of Lords and facing onto Old Palace Yard.

Sir John Soane (1753-1837) substantially remodelled the palace complex between 1824 and 1827. The medieval House of Lords chamber, which had been the target of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, was demolished as part of this work in order to build a new Royal Gallery and a ceremonial entrance at the southern end of the palace.

Soane's (1753-1837) work at the palace also included new library facilities for both Houses of Parliament and new law courts for the Chancery and King's Bench.

John Soane's (1753-1837) alterations caused controversy owing to his use of neo-classical architectural styles, seen as conflicting with the Gothic style of the original buildings.

On 16 October 1834, a fire broke out in the Palace after an overheated stove used to destroy the Exchequer's stockpile of tally sticks set fire to the House of Lords Chamber. In the resulting conflagration both Houses of Parliament were destroyed, along with most of the other buildings in the palace complex.

Westminster Hall was saved thanks to fire-fighting efforts and a change in the direction of the wind.

The Jewel Tower, the Undercroft Chapel and the Cloisters and Chapter House of St Stephen's were the only other parts of the Palace to survive.

Immediately after the fire, King William IV (1765-1837) offered the almost-completed Buckingham Palace to Parliament, hoping to dispose of a residence he disliked. The building was considered unsuitable for parliamentary use, however, and the gift was rejected.

Proposals to move to Charing Cross or St James's Park had a similar fate; the allure of tradition and the historical and political associations of Westminster proved too strong for relocation, despite the deficiencies of that site. In the meantime, the immediate priority was to provide accommodation for the next Parliament, and so the Painted Chamber and White Chamber were hastily repaired for temporary use.

Second World War

During the Second World War (1939-1945), the Palace of Westminster was hit by bombs on fourteen separate occasions.

One bomb fell into Old Palace Yard on 26 September 1940 and severely damaged the south wall of St Stephen's Porch and the west front.

The statue of Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199) was lifted from its pedestal by the force of the blast, and its upheld sword bent, an image that was used as a symbol of the strength of democracy, "which would bend but not break under attack".

The worst raid took place in the night of 10-11 May 1941, when the Palace took at least twelve hits and three people were killed.

An incendiary bomb hit the chamber of the House of Commons and set it on fire; another set the roof of Westminster Hall alight. The firefighters could not save both, and a decision was taken to try to rescue the Hall. In this they were successful; the abandoned Commons Chamber, on the other hand, was destroyed, as was the Members' Lobby.

A bomb also struck the Lords Chamber, but went through the floor without exploding and the Clock Tower took a hit by a small bomb or anti-aircraft shell at the eaves of the roof, suffering much damage there.

All the glass on the south dial was blown out, but the hands and bells were not affected, and the Great Clock continued to keep time accurately.

Following the destruction of the Commons Chamber, the Lords offered their own debating chamber for the use of the Commons; for their own sittings, the Queen's Robing Room was converted into a makeshift chamber. However, the Commons Chamber was rebuilt after the war under the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960), in a simplified version of the old chamber's style.

The work was undertaken by John Mowlem & Co., and construction lasted until 1950.The Lords Chamber was then renovated over the ensuing months; the Lords re-occupied it in May 1951.

The Palace of Westminster, which is a Grade 1 listed building, is in urgent need of extensive restoration to it's fabric.

An Independent Options Appraisal Report released in June 2015 found that the cost to restore the Palace of Westminster could be as much as £7.1 billion if MPs were to remain at the Palace whilst works take place.

Exterior

Sir Charles Barry's (1795-1860) collaborative design for the Palace of Westminster uses the Perpendicular Gothic style, which was popular during the 15th century and returned during the Gothic revival of the 19th century. Barry was a classical architect, but he was aided by the Gothic architect Augustus Pugin (1812-1852).

Westminster Hall, which was built in the 11th century and survived the fire of 1834, was incorporated in Charles Barry's (1795-1860) design.

As for the quarries, in 1839 Charles Barry (1795-1860) toured Britain, looking at quarries and buildings, with a committee which included two leading geologists and a stonecarver.

They selected Anston, a sand-coloured magnesian limestone quarried in the villages of Anston, South Yorkshire and Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. Two quarries were chosen from a list of 102, with the majority of the stone coming from the former.

A crucial consideration was transportation, achieved on water via the Chesterfield Canal, the North Sea, and the rivers Trent and Thames.

Charles Barry's (1795-1860) New Palace of Westminster was rebuilt using the sandy-coloured Anston limestone. However, the stone soon began to decay due to pollution and the poor quality of some of the stone used.

During the 1910s, however, it became clear that some of the stonework had to be replaced and in 1928 it was deemed necessary to use Clipsham stone, a honey-coloured limestone from Rutland, to replace the decayed Anston.

The project began in the 1930s but was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War (1939-1945), and completed only during the 1950s.

Towers

The Palace of Westminster has three main towers and of these, the largest and tallest is the 98.5-metre Victoria Tower, which occupies the south-western corner of the Palace.

Originally named "The King's Tower" because the fire of 1834 which destroyed the old Palace of Westminster occurred during the reign of King William IV (1765-1837), the tower was an integral part of Charles Barry's (1795-1860) original design, of which he intended it to be the most memorable element.

The architect conceived the great square tower as the keep of a legislative castle, and used it as the royal entrance to the Palace and as a fireproof repository for the archives of Parliament.

The Victoria Tower was re-designed several times, and it's height increased progressively and upon it's completion in 1858, it was the tallest secular building in the world.

At the base of the tower is the Sovereign's Entrance, used by the monarch whenever entering the Palace to open Parliament or for other state occasions. The 15 m high archway is richly decorated with sculptures, including statues of Saints George, Andrew and Patrick, as well as of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) herself.

The main body of the Victoria Tower houses the three million documents of the Parliamentary Archives in 8.8 kilometres of steel shelves spread over 12 floors. These include the master copies of all Acts of Parliament since 1497, and important manuscripts such as the original Bill of Rights and the death warrant of King Charles I (1600-1649).

At the top of the cast-iron pyramidal roof is a 22 m flagstaff, from which flies the royal standard when the sovereign is present in the Palace. On all other days the Union Flag flies from the mast.

At the north end of the Palace rises the most famous of the towers, Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben. At 96 metres, it's only slightly shorter than Victoria Tower but much slimmer.

Originally known simply as the Clock Tower, it houses the Great Clock of Westminster, built by Edward John Dent (1790-1853) on designs by amateur horologist Edmund Beckett Denison (1816-1905). Striking the hour to within a second of the time, the Great Clock achieved standards of accuracy considered impossible by 19th-century clockmakers, and it has remained consistently reliable since it entered service in 1859.

The time is shown on four dials 7 metres in diameter, which are made of milk glass and are lit from behind at night; the hour hand is 2.7 metres long and the minute hand 4.3 metres.

The Clock Tower was designed by Augustus Pugin (1812-1852) and built after his death. Charles Barry (1795-1860) asked Pugin to design the clock tower because Pugin had previously helped Barry design the Palace.

Five bells hang in the belfry above the clock and the four quarter bells strike the Westminster Chimes every quarter-hour.

The largest bell strikes the hours; officially called The Great Bell of Westminster, it's generally referred to as Big Ben, a nickname of uncertain origins which, over time, has been colloquially applied to the whole tower.

The first bell to bear this name cracked during testing and was recast; the present bell later developed a crack of it's own, which gives it a distinctive sound.

It's the third-heaviest bell in Britain, weighing 13.8 tonnes.

In the lantern at the top of Elizabeth Tower is the Ayrton Light, which is lit when either House of Parliament is sitting after dark. It was installed in 1885 at the request of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), so that she could see from Buckingham Palace whether the members were at work, and named after Acton Smee Ayrton (1816-1886), who was First Commissioner of Works in the 1870s.

The shortest of the Palace's three principal towers at 91 metres, the octagonal Central Tower stands over the middle of the building, immediately above the Central Lobby. It was added to the plans on the insistence of Dr. David Boswell Reid (1805-1863), who was in charge of the ventilation of the new Houses of Parliament: his plan called for a great central chimney through which what he called "vitiated air" would be drawn out of the building with the heat and smoke of about four hundred fires around the Palace.

Apart from the pinnacles which rise from between the window bays along the fronts of the Palace, numerous turrets enliven the building's skyline. Like the Central Tower, these have been added for practical reasons, and mask ventilation shafts.

There are some other features of the Palace of Westminster which are also known as towers.

St Stephen's Tower is positioned in the middle of the west front of the Palace, between Westminster Hall and Old Palace Yard, and houses the public entrance to the Houses of Parliament, known as St Stephen's Entrance.

The pavilions at the northern and southern ends of the river front are called Speaker's Tower and Chancellor's Tower respectively, after the presiding officers of the two Houses at the time of the Palace's reconstruction-the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Chancellor.

There are a number of small gardens surrounding the Palace of Westminster. Victoria Tower Gardens is open as a public park along the side of the river south of the palace.

Black Rod's Garden is closed to the public and is used as a private entrance. Old Palace Yard, in front of the Palace, is paved over and covered in concrete security blocks.

Cromwell Green, New Palace Yard and Speaker's Green are all private and closed to the public. College Green, opposite the House of Lords, is a small triangular green commonly used for television interviews with politicians.

Interior

The Palace of Westminster contains over 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and 4.8 kilometres of passageways, which are spread over four floors.

The ground floor is occupied by offices, dining rooms and bars; the first floor houses the main rooms of the Palace, including the debating chambers, the lobbies and the libraries. The top-two floors are used as committee rooms and offices.

Instead of one main entrance, the Palace features separate entrances for the different user groups of the building.

The Sovereign's Entrance, at the base of the Victoria Tower, is located in the south-west corner of the Palace and is the starting point of the royal procession route, the suite of ceremonial rooms used by the monarch at State Openings of Parliament.

This consists of the Royal Staircase, the Norman Porch, the Robing Room, the Royal Gallery and the Prince's Chamber, and culminates in the Lords Chamber, where the ceremony takes place.

Members of the House of Lords use the Peers' Entrance in the middle of the Old Palace Yard front, which is covered by a stone carriage porch and opens to an entrance hall. A staircase from there leads, through a corridor, to the Prince's Chamber.

Members of Parliament enter their part of the building from the Members' Entrance in the south side of New Palace Yard and their route passes through a cloakroom in the lower level of the Cloisters and eventually reaches the Members' Lobby directly south of the Commons Chamber.

From New Palace Yard, access can also be gained to the Speaker's Court and the main entrance of the Speaker's House, located in the pavilion at the north-east corner of the Palace.

St Stephen's Entrance, roughly in the middle of the building's western front, is the entrance for members of the public.

From there, visitors walk through a flight of stairs to St Stephen's Hall, location of a collection of marbles, which includes Somers Mansfield, Hampden, Walpole, Pitt and Fox.

Traversal of this hallway brings them to the octagonal Central Lobby, the hub of the Palace. This hall is flanked by symmetrical corridors decorated with fresco paintings, which lead to the ante-rooms and debating chambers of the two Houses: the Members' Lobby and Commons Chamber to the north, and the Peers' Lobby and Lords Chamber to the south.

Another mural-lined corridor leads east to the Lower Waiting Hall and the staircase to the first floor, where the river front is occupied by a row of 16 committee rooms.

Directly below them, the libraries of the two Houses overlook the Thames from the principal floor.

The grandest entrance to the Palace of Westminster is the Sovereign's Entrance beneath the Victoria Tower and it was designed for the use of the monarch, who travels from Buckingham Palace by carriage every year for the State Opening of Parliament.

The Sovereign's Entrance is also the formal entrance used by visiting dignitaries, as well as the starting point of public tours of the Palace.

From there, the Royal Staircase leads up to the principal floor with a broad, unbroken flight of 26 steps made of grey granite.It's lined on state occasions by sword-wielding troopers of the two regiments of the Household Cavalry, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals; these are the only troops allowed to bear arms inside the Palace of Westminster, which officially remains a royal residence.

The staircase is followed by the Norman Porch, a square landing distinguished by its central clustered column and the intricate ceiling it supports, which is made up of four groin vaults with lierne ribs and carved bosses. The Porch was named for its proposed decorative scheme, based on Norman history.

In the event, neither the planned statues of Norman kings nor the frescoes were executed, and only the stained-glass window portraying Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) hints at this theme.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) is depicted twice in the room: as a young woman in the other stained-glass window, and near the end of her life, sitting on the throne of the House of Lords, in a copy of a 1900 painting by Jean-Joseph Benjamin Constant (1845-1902) which hangs on the eastern wall.

The sixteen plinths intended for the statues now house busts of prime ministers who have sat in the House of Lords, such as the Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845) and Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903).

A double door opposite the stairs leads to the Royal Gallery, and another to the right opens to the Robing Room.