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The Palace of Westminster,
located in London, was initially built
deriving inspiration from the Anglo-
Saxon architecture style. Unfortunately
in 1834, The Great Fire of London had
destroyed most of the palace. In 1835,
Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby
Pugin were the architects who had won
a competition that was held to redesign
the palace (Frank, 2008). In the new
Gothic inspired design, a clock tower
was added as a new feature, now known as Elizabeth Tower, which finished
construction in 1859 (New Palace of Westminster, n.d). The palace functions as the
House of Parliament, an art gallery as well as a venue to hold debates (The Palace
of Westminster, 2003).
Riding (2005) had stated that the
Palace of Westminster was redesigned
in the Gothic style due to three reasons.
The first being society’s interest in
European medieval culture, or Gothic
Revival, at the time. By the early 19th
century, it was greatly admired. During
the time, architectural styles were
heavily influenced by politics as well.
During Britain’s war with France, Gothic
was seen as Britain’s national style.
Finally, Westminster was home to British
politics as well as ancient royal and
Christian associations. Due to its links
with Christianity, the Gothic style was
deemed the best as it had religious
resonance similar to British cathedrals.
Figure 1: An architect's rendering of the palace before the fire [Image source: http://blog.londonconnection.com]
Figure 2: The towers and facade of the Palace of Westminster have a similar resemblance to Gothic styled churches [Image source: http://londoneer.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/IGP5419-677x1024.jpg]
It can be seen that the 96.3-meter
high Elizabeth Tower has several Gothic
architectural elements, which include a
spire on top of the tower with ornamental
iron cresting and pointed arch windows,
which can be found on the upper portion of
the tower. The use of vertical lines to
symbolize loftiness is a very prominent
feature in gothic styled architecture. The
windows are designed in a tall and narrow
arch shape. Besides that, there were many
decorative traceries, ornamental openwork
patterns, which were applied to this tower
(Victoria and Albert Museum, 2013). The clock face of Elizabeth tower substituted the
rose window, which is found on most gothic buildings.
Elizabeth Tower is
located on a horizontal
axis at the north point of
the palace grounds, facing
Westminster Bridge.
According to the
principal floor plan, it can
be seen that the spaces
have been arranged in a
very balanced manner that
according to Burden
(2000), indicates a
harmonizing arrangement of the elements in a space.
Figure 4: The clock tower ( indicated by the blue box ) is located on a horizontal axis along the palace [ Image source: http://www.photographers-resource.co.uk/ ]
Figure 3: Gothic features on Elizabeth Tower
During the construction of
Elizabeth Tower, no scaffolding
was seen as it was built from the
inside outwards. The materials
were transported by river and
lifted by a winch (UK Parliament,
n.d.). The tower itself is made of
brickwork with stone cladding
and supported by cast iron
girders.
The cast iron clock dials
were also gilded (Earth in
Pictures, n.d.). According to
Watson (n.d.), 312 pieces of pot
opal glass were used in each
clock dial. The Great Bell,
nicknamed Big Ben, itself is
made out of copper alloy or also
known as bronze.
Figure 5: Construction of the framework for the Elizabeth Tower clock. [ Image source: http://www.parliament.uk/ ]
Figure 6: Transporting and placing the Great Bell in the Elizabeth Tower. [ Image source: http://www.parliament.uk/ ]
Responsible for the gothic revival of the 19th century and with over 150 years
of history, the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower stands today as one of
London’s most iconic places to visit due to significance in British culture, architecture
as well as administration.
[ 496 words ]
Figure 7: A view of the Palace of Westminster as well as Elizabeth Tower [Image source: www.http://static.guim.co.uk/]
REFERENCES
Burden, E. (2000). Elements of Architectural Design: A Photographic
Sourcebook. Canada: John Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1934)
Earth in Pictures. (n.d.). Big Ben - pictures, photos, facts and information on
Big Ben (London). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from
http://www.earthinpictures.com/world/great_britain/london/big_ben.html
Frank, M. (2008). A Brief History Of The Great Clock At Westminster Palace.
Retrieved 5 May, 2013,
from www.my-time-machines.net/Big_Ben_paper_web-final.pdf
History of The Parliament, n.d. The New Palace of Westminster [online]
Retrieved 27 April, 2013, from
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/periods/modern/new-palace-
westminster
Riding, C. (2005). Westminster: a new place for a new age. Retrieved 15
April, 2013, from www.bbc.co.uk/history
Style Guide: Gothic Revival - Victoria and Albert Museum. (n.d.) V&A Home Page -
Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 5 May, 2013, from
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/style-guide-gothic-revival/
The Palace of Westminster. (2003). Retrieved 27 April 2013
from www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/g12.pdf
UK Parliament. (n.d.). Constructing the Elizabeth Tower. Retrieved May 5,
2013, from http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-
ben/building-clock-tower/constructing-clock-tower
Watson, T. (n.d.). Big Ben – All you need to know. Retrieved April 16, 2013
from http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/big-ben-all-you-need-to-know