Editing Charles Barry (section)

== Houses of Parliament ==

[[File:Houses of parliament London.jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view, Palace of Westminster]]
{{main|Palace of Westminster}}
Following the [[Burning of Parliament|destruction by fire]] of the old Houses of Parliament on 16 October 1834, a competition was held to find a suitable design, for which there were 97 entries.<ref>Port, p. 41</ref> Barry's entry, number 64,<ref>Barry, p. 147</ref> for which [[Augustus Pugin]] helped prepare the competition drawings,<ref>Port, p. 80</ref> won the commission in January 1836 to design the new Palace of Westminster. His collaboration with Pugin, who designed furniture, stained glass, sculpture, wallpaper, decorative floor tiles and mosaic work, was not renewed until June 1844,<ref>Port, p. 120</ref> and then continued until Pugin's mental breakdown and death in 1852. The Tudor [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] architectural style was chosen to complement the [[Henry VII Lady Chapel]]<ref>Port, p. 70</ref> opposite. The design had to incorporate those parts of the building that escaped destruction, most notably [[Westminster Hall]], the adjoining double-storey cloisters of St Stephen's court and the crypt of [[St Stephen's Chapel]]. Barry's design was parallel to the [[River Thames]], but the surviving buildings were at a slight angle to the river, so Barry had to incorporate the awkwardly different axes into the design. Although the design included most of the elements of the finished building, including the two towers at either end of the building, it would undergo significant redesign. The winning design was only about {{convert|650|ft}} in length, about two-thirds the size of the finished building.<ref>Port, pp. 42–43</ref> The central lobby and tower were later additions, as was the extensive royal suite at the southern end of the building. The amended design on which construction commenced was approximately the same size as the finished building, although both the [[Victoria Tower]] and Clock Tower were considerably taller in the finished building, and the Central Tower was not yet part of the design.<ref>Port, p. 76</ref>

[[File:Big Ben 2007-1.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Elizabeth Tower of the Palace of Westminster, Barry's most famous building (though designed by Pugin).]]

Before construction could commence, the site had to be [[Thames Embankment|embanked]] and cleared of the remains of the previous buildings, and various [[sewerage|sewers]] needed to be diverted.<ref>Port, p. 97</ref> On 1 September 1837, work started on building a {{convert|920|ft|adj=on}} long [[coffer-dam]] to enclose the building site along the river.<ref>Port, page 197</ref> The construction of the embankment started on New Year's Day 1839.<ref name="port">Port, p. 198</ref> The first work consisted of the construction of a vast concrete raft to serve as the building's foundation. After the space had been excavated by hand,<ref name="port"/> {{convert|70000|cuyd}} of concrete were laid.<ref name="port"/> The site of the Victoria Tower was found to consist of [[quicksand]], necessitating the use of [[deep foundation|piles]].<ref name="port"/> The stone selected for the exterior of the building was quarried at [[Anston]] in Yorkshire,<ref name="port"/> with the core of the walls being laid in brick.<ref name="port"/> To make the building as fire-proof as possible, wood was only used decoratively, rather than structurally,<ref name="port"/> and extensive use was made of [[cast iron]].  The roofs of the building consist of cast iron girders covered by sheets of iron,<ref>Port, p. 200</ref> cast iron beams were also used as [[joist]]s to support the floors<ref>Port, p. 199</ref> and extensively in the internal structures of both the clock tower and Victoria tower.<ref>Port, pp. 204–205</ref>

Barry and his engineer [[Alfred Meeson]] were responsible for designing [[scaffolding]], [[hoist (device)|hoists]] and [[crane (machine)|cranes]] used in the construction.<ref>Port, p. 212</ref> One of their most innovative developments was the scaffolding used to construct the three main towers. For the central tower they designed an inner rotating scaffold, surrounded by timber [[centring]] to support the masonry vault of the Central Lobby, that spans {{convert|57|ft|2|in}}, and an external timber tower.<ref>Port, p. 209</ref> A portable [[steam engine]] was used to lift stone and brick to the upper parts of the tower.<ref name="port211">Port, p. 211</ref> When it came to building the Victoria and Clock towers, it was decided to dispense with external scaffolding and lift building materials up through the towers by an internal scaffolding that travelled up the structure as it was built. The scaffold and cranes were powered by steam engines.<ref name="port211"/>

Work on the actual building began with the laying of a foundation stone on 27 April 1840 by Barry's wife Sarah, near the north-east corner of the building.<ref>Port, p. 101</ref> A major problem for Barry came with the appointment on 1 April 1840 of the ventilation expert Dr [[David Boswell Reid]].<ref>Port, p. 102</ref> Reid, whom Barry said was "...not profess to be thoroughly acquainted with the practical details of building and machinery...",<ref name="port103">Port, p. 103</ref> would make increasing demands that affected the building's design, leading to delays in construction. By 1845, Barry was refusing to communicate with Reid except in writing. A direct result of Reid's demands was the addition of the Central Tower, designed to act as a giant chimney to draw fresh air through the building.<ref name="port103"/>

The [[House of Lords]] was completed in April 1847<ref name="aslet">Aslet & Moore, p. 79</ref> in the form of a double cube measuring {{convert|90|x|45|x|45|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name="aslet"/> The [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] was finished in 1852, where later Barry would be created a [[Knight Bachelor]]. The Elizabeth Tower, which houses the great clock and bells including [[Big Ben]], is {{convert|316|ft}} tall and was completed in 1858.<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 217–218</ref> The Victoria Tower is {{convert|323|ft}} tall and was completed in 1860.<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 216–217</ref> The iron flagpole on the Victoria Tower tapers from {{convert|2|ft|9|in|mm}} in diameter and the iron crown on top is {{convert|3|ft|6|in|mm}} in diameter and {{convert|395|ft}} above ground.<ref>Port, p. 205</ref> The central tower is {{convert|261|ft}} high.<ref>Port, p. 206</ref> The building is {{convert|940|ft}} long, covers about {{convert|8|acre|0|abbr=off}} of land, and has over 1000 rooms. The east Thames façade is {{convert|873|ft}} in length.<ref>Barry, pp. 258–259</ref> Pugin later dismissed the building, saying "All Grecian, Sir, Tudor details on a classic body",<ref>Atterbury & Wainwright, p. 221</ref> the essentially symmetrical plan and river front being offensive to Pugin's taste for [[Gothic architecture|medieval Gothic]] buildings.

[[File:Palace of Westminster plan Crace.jpg|thumb|right|Plan of the main (first) floor, Palace of Westminster]]

The plan<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 219–226</ref> of the finished building is built around two major axes. At the southern end of Westminster Hall, St. Stephen's porch was created as a major entrance to the building.  This involved inserting a great arch with a grand staircase at the southern end of Westminster hall, which leads to the first floor where the major rooms are located. To the east of St. Stephens porch is St. Stephen's Hall, built on the surviving undercroft of St. Stephen's Chapel.  To the east of this the octagonal Central Lobby (above which is the central tower), the centre of the building. North of the Central Lobby is the Commons' Corridor which leads into the square Commons' Lobby, north of which is the House of Commons.

There are various offices and corridors to the north of the House of Commons with the clock tower terminating the northern axis of the building. South of the Central Lobby is the Peers' Corridor leading to the Peers' Lobby, south of which lies the House of Lords. South of the House of Lords in sequence are the Prince's Chamber, Royal Gallery, and Queen's Robing Room. To the north-west of the Queen's Robing Chamber is the Norman Porch, to the west of which the Royal Staircase leads down to the Royal Entrance located immediately beneath the Victoria Tower. East of the Central Lobby is the East Corridor leading to the Lower Waiting Hall, to the east of which is the Members Dining Room located in the very centre of the east front. To the north of the Members Dining Room lies the [[House of Commons Library]], and at the northern end of the east front is the projecting [[Speaker's House]], home of the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]].  To the south of the Members Dining Room lies various committee rooms followed by [[House of Lords Library]].  Projecting from the southern end of the façade is the Lord Chancellor's House, home of the [[Lord Chancellor]].

Although Parliament gave Barry a prestigious name in architecture, it nearly finished him off. Completion of the building was very overdue; Barry had estimated it would take six years<ref>Port, p. 78</ref> and cost £724,986<ref>Port, p. 77</ref> (excluding the cost of the site, embankment and furnishings). However, construction actually took 26 years, and it was also well over budget; by July 1854 the estimated cost was £2,166,846.<ref>Port, p. 161</ref> Those pressures left Barry tired and stressed. The full Barry design was never completed; it would have enclosed [[New Palace Yard]] as an internal courtyard, and the clock tower would have been in the north-east corner, with a great gateway in the north-west corner surmounted by the Albert Tower, continuing south along the west front of Westminster Hall.<ref>Barry, pp. 289–292</ref>