Houses of Parliament

Situated on Canon Row in London (or Fanon Row in AUs and fic) the Houses of Parliament is comprised of two main legislative chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords and a load of other things including, but not limited to:

• Westminster Hall
• A sprawling basement
• Libraries for the House of Commons and the House of Lords
• Elizabeth Tower (the clock tower with Big Ben in it)
• Victoria Tower
• Committee rooms
• Offices
• The Archives

History

Originally called "Thorney Island", the site has had occupation on it for over a thousand years. The oldest remaingin part of the Palace of Westminster is Westminster Hall, whose walls date from 1097. Its floor area is nearly 1550 square metres. The Hall was magnificently rebuilt in the reign of Richard II. The Clerk of the Works for two years in the early stages on the rebuilding was a young man names Geoffrey Chaucer.

Barry & Pugin

Although various important people have been meeting on the site for hundred and hundred and hundreds of years, the Parliament building that we have come to know and love in fandom dates back to the 1800s. Most of the old palace was destroyed in a fire in 1834 and as such a new building was needed. Charles Barry won the design competition for the new building and "engaged AW Pugin to carry out the Gothic detail of the building". The foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1840 and the Palace was officially opened by Queen Victoria at the State Opening on 1852. The Clock Tower (renamed in 2012 to Elizabeth Tower) was opened in 1856. There were a large number of frescoes and mosaics which took ages to complete - this was made even longer by the fact that the Palace of Westminster is situated in Britain and so the frescoes didn't dry and people were generally unhelpful the whole time.

Second World War

During the Second World War the House of Commons in particular suffered massive bombing damage. Some of the original stone and wood was saved and turned into a variety of items, most of them sold off for charity. The House of Commons snuff box was fashioned from some of the recovered wood. Members of the Commonwealth donated items to the House of Commons to help rebuilt it. A full list of the donations can be found on the Parliament website.

The House of Lords was struck by a bomb which passed through the floor of the Chamber without exploding.

Modern renovations

Renovations were made following an IRA bombing in the 1970s though not to the extent of those needed following World War Two. In recent years further renovations have been made though none quite as exciting or extensive as those listed. For example, in 2002 a new cafe was opened.

It has since been discovered that the building is full of asbestos, falling into the river and generally just in a state of disrepair. A project was set up to try and work out how best to restore Parliament given that it's pretty important to the running of the country. Many options have been put forward for alternate arrangements for seating the House of Commons and the House of Lords during the restorations. David Cameron's favourite proposal is to just switch chambers while the other one is being worked on, although this is seen by some as basically useless since work will probably need to be carried out in both chambers at the same time to get the best results. Other options include a touring parliament which visits different parts of the country, moving to the Queen Elizabeth II Center a short distance away for debate or moving the whole operation into a government department such as the treasury.

Technology

Lighting

In 1854 the chief engineer to the parliament project was replaced by Goldsworthy Gurney. Gurney reinvented the ventilation system which allowed him to being in a gas lighting system to parliament. This was eventually replaced, first in 1906 for the clockface and then in 1912 for the Commons chamber.

At the top of the Clock Tower is the Ayrton Light, names after the first Commissioner of the Works when it was installed. It is lit when the House of Commons is sitting after dark. In Victorian times the light could be seen only from the West End of London as that covered the smarter parts of London in which Members were presumed to live. The light was extinguished for almost all of the Second World War.

Telephones

The telephone was introduced to parliament in 1883. It has been causing a nuisance ever since.

Annunciators

The annunciators showing the item of business before the House of Commons and the Member speaking, were introduced in 1894, ingenious arrangements of inked hammers which spelled out the information on a rolling paper tape. By 1939 there were 19 sets which in 1964 gave way to CCTV. There are now 3,000 TV screens serving the Commons and a similar system for the Lords.

Traffic Control

The first traffic lights in the UK were installed in Parliament Square in December 1868. Devised by the railway engineer J. P. Knight, they consisted of rotating green and red lanterns with semaphore arms. They were a less than encouraging precedent because they exploded less than a year later, injuring the policeman who was operating them. Parliament Square also became the first "official" roundabout in the UK in 1926.

Artwork

The building of Parliament houses a great deal of expensive artwork. It is often shared or moved around Westminster, sometimes gracing the office walls of minister, sometimes hanging in cafes around Parliament, sometimes just stuck in storage or on loan to other governments.

Frescoes

There are lots of these.

Mosaics

There are also lots of these.

Statues

In Central Lobby there are a number of statues. People used to rub Churchill's foot for good lunch before a big speech in the Commons (usually before their maiden speech) but that has now been banned because parliamentary authorities had to keep restoring just the one foot.

There used to a rule that there could be no statue or bust of any living politician in the Houses of Parliament. However, this rule was too simple and so in 2002 these rules were changed. No one really cared when busts of Callaghan and Heath were placed, but there was a big stink about having a statue of Margaret Thatcher in the lobby. Michael Martin didn't care and unveiled the statue in 2007 anyway. Thatcher said at the unveiling "I would have preferred iron". The statue cost £80,000 and is 71 stone of silicon bronze.

Interesting places

With over three miles of corridors and 1,100 rooms, there are many interesting places to be explored across the Palace of Westminster.

The Clock Tower and Big Ben

THIS IS NOT BIG BEN

Never confuse Big Ben and the Clock Tower. Big Ben is the house hell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and the Clock Tower is where it is housed. The Clock Tower is 314 feet high and 40 feet square. There are 393 steps to the lantern room but visitors to the clock platform have to climb only 334 steps. The Clock Tower stands on the site of a much older clock tower which was originally built in 1365, but Sir Christopher Wren demolished it around 1698. The bell of the old clock tower (called "Edward of Westminster") was sold to St Paul's Cathedral. Big Ben was brought to Westminster in 1856 and was met with cheering crowds as it was taken through the city on a trolley drawn by 16 horses. A year later, Big Ben was found to have a four foot crack in it and it had to be recast. No one actually knows why the bell is called Big Ben but there are many competing theories. The clock is wound thee times a week, by hand, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and each winding session takes more than an hour. In 2008, the Clock Tower was chosen by the British public as Britain's favourite landmark with Stonehenge coming in second place.

The clock's chimes are set to a phrase found in Handel's aria, 'I know that mu Redeemer liveth' from his oratorio Messiah. That or it was a tune made up by two undergraduates if Trinity College, Cambridge in about 1793. No one is really sure.

The Archives

The Archives in the Victoria Tower occupy 12 floors, have five and a half miles of shelving and hold about three million documents. To preserve the records, they are kept at a contact 16°C and 55% relative humidity, the pollution filters. The Archives contain the original copies of 64,000+ Acts of Parliament from 1497 and the manuscript Journals of the House of Lords from 1510 and the House of Commons from 1547. Almost all the other original records of the House of Commons were lost in the fire of 1834.

Maps & Floorplans

Although there are no modern floorplans for the current parliament, there are many older versions which can allow anoraks to build up a general idea of what it is like to wander around Westminster for a living. Even the people who work there aren't always aware of the different corridors and rooms and get lost if they venture too far from their usual paths. Most people are aware of the two large chambers, the lobbies and the bits that you can go on tours through, but behind that are a series of labyrinthine, ancient walkways and secret passages.

One old floorplan (dating from the mid- to late-1800s) shows a prison cell in Parliament.

The parliament website has an "interactive" map of parliament for the curious or bored.