Did you know that the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster led to a rash of complaints in 1837 by the neighbours? If not, read on…
Historic Westminster
The Other Houses of Charles Barry
Charles Barry (1795-1860) is best-known as the architect of the new Houses of Parliament. With the designer AWN Pugin (1812-1852) he created the most iconic building in London, familiar to millions the world over as a symbol of Britain and representative democracy. It was a labour of love. Barry was a Londoner through-and-through: he was […]
In the Picture
Here is a recent blogpost I wrote for the excellent Virtual St Stephen’s Project, a collaborative academic project based at York University which is seeking to reconstruct the history and architecture of one of the most famous and influential buildings of the old Palace of Westminster. It describes how one of the biggest paintings of […]
Parliament Burns: A Family Affair
Today is the 180th anniversary of the 1834 fire at Parliament, and I’m delighted that this year has seen the collision of political and family history in the story. When giving a talk about The Day Parliament Burned Down earlier this year in Saffron Walden, Essex, I was approached afterwards by Michael Furlong and his wife […]
10 Reasons Why the Georgians are Cooler than the Victorians
This year, the tercentenary of the accession of the House of Hanover to the British throne, has been named Year of the Georgians. Here, in no particular order, is my humble take on why: 1. Better Wars Victorian Wars are so boring. They don’t even have good names. The dull old ‘Crimean’ or ‘Boer’ wars […]
More Relics of the Old Palace of Westminster
News of some other mementoes carved from the ruins of the old Palace of Westminster following the 1834 fire has reached me. This time they’ve been created from salvaged stonework, and depict a mysterious man and woman. They’ve been drawn to my attention by landscape architect and historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, author of The London Square, (Yale, […]
