Palace of Westminster
Neo-Gothic seat of the UK Parliament, rebuilt after a catastrophic fire destroyed most of the medieval palace in eighteen thirty-four.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Palace of Westminster in London opens on the night of October sixteenth, eighteen thirty-four, when two labourers named Joshua Cross and Patrick Furlong fed centuries of discarded medieval tally sticks into furnaces beneath the House of Lords. You'll hear how the overheated flues sparked a fire that tore through the old palace, and about fire chief James Braidwood's frantic effort to save Westminster Hall by sacrificing the building beside it. Turner and Constable both raced to sketch the blaze from the Thames that night.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
10 Downing St
Official residence of British prime ministers since seventeen thirty-five, deceptively modest facade concealing roughly one hundred rooms.
Royal Courts of Justice
Victorian Gothic courthouse of soaring towers and carved stonework, housing England's highest civil courts since eighteen eighty-two.
Westminster Abbey
Gothic abbey hosting every English coronation since ten sixty-six and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
Guildhall
Medieval civic hall at the heart of the Square Mile, scene of Tudor trials and survivor of two great fires.
Buckingham Palace
Royal residence with 775 rooms, opulent state rooms open to visitors, and the world's most-watched changing of the guard.
St. Paul's Cathedral
Baroque cathedral with a soaring dome, crypt, and Stone Gallery, completed by Wren in seventeen eleven.