Parliament House (England)

1. Time of construction: 1840 - 1860
2. Location: London, England

The National Assembly Building (England) is a famous building all over the world, most memorable is the facade spreading on the banks of the River Thames , a rich vertical Gothic detail and 3 contrasting towers - massive Victorian square tower Located in the southernmost, the octagonal spiral of the Central Tower and the North Pole is the slender Clock tower with a steep roof, extravagant decoration above the bell tower, the sound of the big bell - Big Ben, often attached associated with the National Assembly in the imagination of the masses. But the 19th century characteristics and current uses disguise the former royal palace with nearly a thousand years of history and some magnificent medieval ruins. This explains why the new Westminster Palace name is often used to call Parliament House (England).

The National Assembly building looks from above in the northeast
shows that the facade spreads along the river.

Old Westminster Palace.

At the foundation of the Palace we must go back to the time of Edward's confession, starting construction in the late 1040s on the land later known as Thorney Island, the lowlands of many marshes dug from the moat at the river bank. There he also rebuilt the great St Peter's Monastery, and the history of the Palace and the monastery were closely related until the 16th century.

Scenes of Westminster Hall toward St Stephen's Gate with 11th-century walls and roofs of the 14th century. The palace is still the main residence of the Norwegian kings and the beautiful Hall still exists, by William II Added from 1097 to 1099, by that time it must have been Europe's largest palace and certainly the project itself was a wonder. Since 1292, a new royal chapel has been built to honor St. Stephen, the tomb was completed in 1297 and the chapel above completed in 1348, at that time established the missionary community. The chapel is magnificent, but only the tomb and remains of the chapel above are left.

From 1397 to 1399, the last wonders of the Middle Ages were added, the beautiful roof was like the girder of Westminster Hall, opening a considerable width of the Hall without support, basically not changing. changed to this day. It is still impossible to prove definitively by defending the estimated 660 ton roof. The last hypothesis is that the roof can be supported directly by the wall, not by the structure of the domed bearing of the dome.

Shortly after the suppression of 1547 religious community organizations, including the St Stephen community, Congress regularly used vacant local buildings - the House used St Stephen's side of the chapel. above, while the Senate uses a larger room located further south in the former apartments of the medieval queens. It is said that the seat in the House of Representatives, the members sit facing each other in the middle of the main aisle, then the Senate also imitates, originating from the community. This arrangement is not appropriate and inconvenient, but the proposal to build neoclassical buildings has no results. Since the beginning of the 19th century, there have been many changes and additions, but in the center of the old buildings, it is inappropriate to consider the Holy Land as a tradition, still existed until the fire of October 1834 burned. completely cancel.

New Westminster Palace.

Actual data:

1. Front of river bank: 286.5m long
2. Clock Tower: 94.5m high
3. Victoria Tower: 102.5m high
4. Senate inaugurated: April 1847
5. House of Commons inaugurated: February 1852
6. May 1941 was bombed, inaugurated again in October 1950.

The scene looked across the Palace to the St Stephen's Roof
with the Western façade in the foreground and the Central Tower
In the background still under construction, lithographs are about 1852.

Must decide to rebuild the whole, choose architects in the contest rules Gothic or Renaissance style Elizabeth. Although the art style of the building must go back to previous periods to harmonize with the surrounding environment, especially Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey, a modern legislature requires Recording conditions updated. In January 1836 it was announced that Charles Barry was chosen because his scheme was closely arranged, with the efficient travel of various user groups: the king, the members of the bicameral, officials and the people. Diagram set The construction drawing shows the structure of the steel truss for the roof of St Stephen's Hall. design a unified floor where all the main rooms are arranged, together with the bicameral hall located in the middle of the center, facing each other, between the hallway and the central octagonal corridor. The entrance, unfortunately, is no longer available, because the AWPugin style drawing, who has skill in sketching and knowledge of Gothic details, probably affects those who are knowledgeable.

The construction site of the new building occupies an area of ​​about 3.25 ha ; Most of the increase is due to embankment. The first thing to do is to build the dike line behind the embankment, it takes 16 months to complete the traditional method, this method also applies to digging river walls and land strips by creating steps. The river wall was built of granite and moved below the Trinity 7.6m peak. Marble is also lined on concrete floors, behind rocks, and the east wall of the main building, space is also sealed with concrete. At that time, a large concrete raft foundation with thickness changed to form the foundation of the foot for the entire superstructure. The use of concrete on such a large scale is a relatively new development and has been applied to the foundation of the British Museum Museum several years ago.

The foundation is made of bricks with two curved roofs with orthogonal pillars, together with iron, cast iron and wrought iron, the wood is only used as a joint. Always obsessed with new fires, people focus on building fire-resistant standards as much as possible .

Main Floor Plan of Parliament House (England)

The floor often has a comfortable arch of shallow bricks between cast-iron T- beams that overturned, but the floor in the entire Congregation must be cast iron (each beam is "authenticated" right on the construction site). Significantly more than the roof throughout the building, there are cast iron scaffolds. The three main towers of the Palace are also typical structural engineering illustrations, with many skills shown in construction. The vast lowest floor and the beautiful decoration of the Victorian tower designed as the entrance of the king and the above 9 floors were used as a storehouse of the parliament, so they were also fire-resistant. Victoria Tower and Clock Tower were built on thick concrete foundations, with stone walls, built without outside scaffolding.

Clock Tower Top
(Photo: cruisemates)

The Central Tower specifically added the ventilation section, there was an inner conical roof built of bricks and the masonry had a bowl and a spiral above. At the bottom of the cone, there are wrought iron bars linked to 8 beveled iron plates that make wedges at the corners of the octagon and also continue to hold the masonry.

The scale of the project is unique, closely related to the organization. Charles Barry had to recruit more office staff to handle a lot of drawings and calculations as well as on-site monitoring. Most materials are transported by waterway, often using barges, including stones taken from Anston in Yorkshire. In 1843 about 300 people worked at the quarry. The main contractors, Grissell & Peto, recruited more than 800 employees in Westminster from 1845 to 1846, in the workshops on the banks of the Thames on the work of carpenters and carvers, in 1847 peaked at 300 people. . For carpentry work, some engraving machines made by Messrs can be used. Taylor, William & Jodan designed although most are made by hand, with the quality and uniformity in the finished product is amazing.

Most of the people participating in the project are very proud, some carpenters and painters also sign their names on the project. However, in October 1841, the builder strikes against George Allen, Grissell's overbearing foreman. The strike did not decrease, and again in late May 1842.

Heating, ventilation and lighting are all in demand for new, modern solutions. Because lighting gas is commonly used, initially following Michael Faraday's principle or applying Goldsworthy Gurney's scheme, although the Senate was initially lit with candles.Heating and ventilation proved much more problematic: Barry proposed to appoint a practical engineer, since April 1840, the ventilation in the building was completely entrusted to Dr. David Boswell Reid, a chemistry professor from Edinburgh. His upwind ventilation system includes the construction of a central tower that acts as a chimney for "liquid ventilation" and smoke, plus many smaller airways and countless pipes. LED smoke wall.

Barry agreed to these changes as his design improvements, but in 1846, his relationship with Reid deteriorated. Finally resolved by Barry acting as a ventilation system in the Senate, while Reid assumed the House of Commons, he brought air from the Clock Tower. Barry replaced Reid's system with a downward-facing air system from Victoria Tower but both ways were not as good. Reid was fired in September 1852, and in 1854 appointed Goldswarthy Gurney. He changed again but the congressional artists continued to complain. Finally, in the 1860s, Dr. John Percy built a reasonable system for taking air from the strip of land by creating a riverbank.

Big clock "Big Ben" with light in the evening
(Photo: ftp.pcworld )

Clock Tower is an unforgettable feature, clock history and bells are a complex system. The placing of the bells, especially the big bells, called "Big Ben", is probably the name of Lord Benjamin's Hall, the first councilor, who was sometimes cracked and had to recast, a challenge. big wake up. The bell went up successfully in October 1858, and hummed to this day.

The House of Representatives is one of the most popular buildings, a building with an architectural style that is significantly influenced by modern uses within.