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

Ambassador Rene Keller
1 memorial
Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading

Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading

Lawyer and statesman. Born 3 Bury Street, died at home at 32 Curzon Street. 2018: A critical Londonist article gives: "A government enquiry found the politician Rufus Isaacs guilty of 'grave impro...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Chevalier d'Eon

Chevalier d'Eon

Diplomat and transvestite. Born Tonnerre, Burgundy, France. Full name: D'Éon de Beaumont, Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée, born of the French nobility. Up until 1763 he had a disting...

Person, Espionage, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, France

3 memorials
Lord Sandberg CBE

Lord Sandberg CBE

Trustee of The Memorial Gates Trust. Michael Graham Ruddock Sandberg was born on 31 May 1927, the youngest of the three children of Gerald Arthur Clifford Sandberg (1882-1954) and Ethel Marian Cli...

Person, Armed Forces, Commerce, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Councillor A. C. Shearing

Councillor A. C. Shearing

Architect of the British Legion Hornsey in 1929.

Person, Architecture, Politics & Administration

1 memorial