London Airport Transfers

Westminster Palace

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is a Victorian Gothic building that houses the two Chambers that make up the British Parliament.

In October 1834 a fire-destroyer destroyed the old palace that had housed Parliament since 1512. The building had also served as a royal residence in London from the time of William the Conqueror.

Only a tiny part of the old palace, consisting of Westminster Hall, the cloisters and the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel and the Jewel Tower, a 14th-century building in which jewels and gold were kept, were saved.
The new palace

Of the 97 projects submitted for the construction of the new building, the winners of the competition were the architects Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin. In 1847 the building was practically finished with the construction of 1,200 rooms, 11 patios and 3.5 kilometers of corridors.

The ostentatious facade of the building offers a beautiful panorama while the golden pinnacles and statues of the kings are reflected in the river. The palace is flanked by the Victoria Tower, an imposing tower that gathers copies of all the laws of Parliament since 1497, and also by the charismatic tower of Big Ben.