Building    From 1295 

House of Commons

Building

The palace of Westminster has been the home of Parliament since a meeting there in 1295. It split into two "houses" in 1341 but, having been built as a royal residence, the palace had no suitable meeting spaces so the two houses used a number of different rooms. Then in 1547, as one of the results of the dissolution of the monasteries, St Stephen's Chapel, inside the Palace of Westminster, fell vacant and was used thereafter as the debating chamber for the Commons.

Over the years many changes were made to the chapel and then on 16 October 1834 the Palace of Westminster was largely destroyed in a fire and of St Stephen's only the cloisters and crypt survived.

Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin built the Gothic-style replacement palace over the period 1840-1870. The Commons chamber was completed in 1852.

On the night of 10/11 May 1941 the Commons chamber was badly bombed. After the war it was rebuilt by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, in a simplified version of what had been there before. More details at Parliament UK.

As well as the stonework in Hampstead there is also a finial in Maidstone (thanks to Scott Martin for this bit of info.) apparently 'set free' by the 1941 bomb but it's not clear if it is a rare on-site survivor of the fire or part of the Victorian replacement. The wonderful Londonist tells us that after the 1941 bomb authenticated lumps of stone from the building were modelled into ash-trays etc. and sold for war-time charities. Another Londonist post reports that a rather odd 2014 sculpture in Bermondsey contains fragments of the Houses of Parliament, which we'd guess came from the House of Commons.

See also Houses of Parliament.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
House of Commons

Commemorated ati

Millstream House - gargoyle

See the plaque at this site for more details.

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Millstream House - plaque

The plaque seems to be attempting to justify the presence here of these bits ...

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Well-head from House of Commons

This plaque is affixed to the top of the stonework of the well-head. Andrew ...

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
House of Commons

Creations i

Silver Jubilee fountain

Funded by private donations from MPs and unveiled by the Queen. 26 foot high,...

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Other Subjects

Ian Albery

Ian Albery

Chief Executive of Sadler's Wells when the new theatre opened in October 1998.

Person, Politics & Administration, Theatre

1 memorial
William Henry Liversidge

William Henry Liversidge

Commoner on the Bridge House Estates Committee, 1894.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Christopher Buckmaster

Christopher Buckmaster

Councillor and Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, 2003 - 2004.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
John Popham

John Popham

Born Somerset.  Speaker of the House of Commons 1580-3, Attorney General, 1581-92, and Lord Chief Justice of England 1592 - 1607. Presided at the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603 and of Guy Faw...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Robert, Lord Clive, Clive of India

Robert, Lord Clive, Clive of India

Soldier and administrator. Born Shropshire. With the East India Company he effectively founded the British Empire. Spent much of his adult life in India, making his fortune there and becoming Gover...

Person, Armed Forces, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Bengal, India

2 memorials