Page "Charles Barry" Paragraph 34

Following the destruction by fire of the existing Houses of Parliament on 16 October 1834, a competition was held to find a suitable design, for which there were 97 entries.

Barry's entry, number 64, Pugin helped prepare the competition drawings, 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, mosaic work etc.

) was not renewed until June 1844 and continued until Pugin's mental break down in 1852.

The Tudor Gothic architectural style was chosen to complement the Henry VII Lady Chapel 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 are at a slight angle to the river, thus Barry had to incorporate this awkward difference in axis 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 650 feet in length about two-thirds the size of the finished building.

The central lobby and tower were later additions as were 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.