The Palace of Westminster
From Wikipedia:
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
The site of the current palace may have been used by Cnut during his reign from 1016 to 1035, and from c. 1045 – c. 1050 Edward the Confessor built a palace and the first Westminster Abbey. The oldest surviving part of the palace is Westminster Hall, which dates from the reign of William II (r. 1087–1100).
The building was originally constructed in the eleventh century as a royal palace and was the primary residence of the kings of England until 1512, when a fire destroyed the royal apartments. The monarch moved to the adjacent Palace of Whitehall, but the remainder of the palace continued to serve as the home of the Parliament of England, which had met there since the 13th century. In 1834 a second, larger fire destroyed the majority of the palace, but Westminster Hall was saved and incorporated into the replacement building.
The competition to design the new palace was won by the architect Charles Barry, who chose a Gothic Revival style for the building. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering delays, cost overruns, and the deaths of Barry and his assistant, Augustus Pugin. The palace contains chambers for the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the monarch, and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft). Extensive repairs had to be made after the Second World War, including rebuilding the destroyed Commons chamber. Despite further conservation work having been carried out since, the palace is in urgent need of major repairs.
From www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200312-why-is-the-palace-of-...:
In 2012, the Houses of Commons and Lords commissioned a study on the condition of the palace, which indicated the need for major restoration work. The current sewage system was installed in 1888; there are more than 1,000 areas that contain asbestos; the chambers are not wheelchair accessible; and even rodents populate the place. Part of the building’s mechanical and electrical systems were installed after World War Two and should have been replaced in the 1980s but were not. Over the years, steam, gas and water services were built on top of each other and next to high-voltage electrical wires. And about 321km of telephone, broadcasting and sound wires need to be upgraded.
The Anston limestone used in the original construction, which was cheap and ideal for carving, began to quickly decay in the 19th Century and was only partially restored in the 1980s and ‘90s. On top of all of that, Barry and Pugin used combustible materials to decorate the palace’s interiors.
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100x: The 2024 Edition
92/100 London landmarks by night
A couple of photos taken inside the Houses of Parliament by me:
Westminster Hall: flic.kr/p/XDhpmD
St Stephen's Hall: flic.kr/p/YikNMj
The Palace of Westminster
From Wikipedia:
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
The site of the current palace may have been used by Cnut during his reign from 1016 to 1035, and from c. 1045 – c. 1050 Edward the Confessor built a palace and the first Westminster Abbey. The oldest surviving part of the palace is Westminster Hall, which dates from the reign of William II (r. 1087–1100).
The building was originally constructed in the eleventh century as a royal palace and was the primary residence of the kings of England until 1512, when a fire destroyed the royal apartments. The monarch moved to the adjacent Palace of Whitehall, but the remainder of the palace continued to serve as the home of the Parliament of England, which had met there since the 13th century. In 1834 a second, larger fire destroyed the majority of the palace, but Westminster Hall was saved and incorporated into the replacement building.
The competition to design the new palace was won by the architect Charles Barry, who chose a Gothic Revival style for the building. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering delays, cost overruns, and the deaths of Barry and his assistant, Augustus Pugin. The palace contains chambers for the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the monarch, and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft). Extensive repairs had to be made after the Second World War, including rebuilding the destroyed Commons chamber. Despite further conservation work having been carried out since, the palace is in urgent need of major repairs.
From www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200312-why-is-the-palace-of-...:
In 2012, the Houses of Commons and Lords commissioned a study on the condition of the palace, which indicated the need for major restoration work. The current sewage system was installed in 1888; there are more than 1,000 areas that contain asbestos; the chambers are not wheelchair accessible; and even rodents populate the place. Part of the building’s mechanical and electrical systems were installed after World War Two and should have been replaced in the 1980s but were not. Over the years, steam, gas and water services were built on top of each other and next to high-voltage electrical wires. And about 321km of telephone, broadcasting and sound wires need to be upgraded.
The Anston limestone used in the original construction, which was cheap and ideal for carving, began to quickly decay in the 19th Century and was only partially restored in the 1980s and ‘90s. On top of all of that, Barry and Pugin used combustible materials to decorate the palace’s interiors.
------------------------------------------------------------------
100x: The 2024 Edition
92/100 London landmarks by night
A couple of photos taken inside the Houses of Parliament by me:
Westminster Hall: flic.kr/p/XDhpmD
St Stephen's Hall: flic.kr/p/YikNMj