The Palace of Westminster, located in London, was initially built deriving inspiration from the AngloSaxon architecture style.

Unfortunately in 1834, The Great Fire of London had destroyed most of the palace. In 1835, Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin were the architects who had won a competition that was held to redesign the palace (Frank, 2008). In the new Gothic inspired design, a clock tower
Figure 1: An architect's rendering of the palace before the fire [Image source: http://blog.londonconnection.com]

was added as a new feature, now known as Elizabeth Tower, which finished construction in 1859 (New Palace of Westminster, n.d). The palace functions as the House of Parliament, an art gallery as well as a venue to hold debates (The Palace of Westminster, 2003).

Riding (2005) had stated that the Palace of Westminster was redesigned in the Gothic style due to three reasons. The first being societys interest in European medieval culture, or Gothic Revival, at the time. By the early 19th century, it was greatly admired. During the time, architectural styles were heavily influenced by politics as well. During Britains war with France, Gothic was seen as Britains national style. Finally, Westminster was home to British politics as well as ancient royal and Christian associations. Due to its links with Christianity, the Gothic style was deemed the best as it had religious
Figure 2: The towers and facade of the Palace resonance similar to British cathedrals. of Westminster have a similar resemblance to Gothic styled churches [Image source: http://londoneer.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/IGP5419677x1024.jpg]

It can be seen that the 96.3-meter high Elizabeth Tower has several Gothic architectural elements, which include a spire on top of the tower with ornamental iron cresting and pointed arch windows, which can be found on the upper portion of the tower. The use of vertical lines to symbolize loftiness is a very prominent feature in gothic styled architecture. The windows are designed in a tall and narrow arch shape. Besides that, there were many
Figure 3: Gothic features on Elizabeth Tower

decorative traceries, ornamental openwork patterns, which were applied to this tower

(Victoria and Albert Museum, 2013). The clock face of Elizabeth tower substituted the rose window, which is found on most gothic buildings.

Elizabeth Tower is located on a horizontal axis at the north point of the palace grounds, facing Westminster Bridge. According to the principal floor plan, it can be seen that the spaces have been arranged in a very balanced manner that according to Burden (2000), indicates a
Figure 4: The clock tower ( indicated by the blue box ) is located on a horizontal axis along the palace [ Image source: http://www.photographers-resource.co.uk/ ]

harmonizing arrangement of the elements in a space.

During the construction of Elizabeth Tower, no scaffolding was seen as it was built from the inside outwards. The materials were transported by river and lifted by a winch (UK Parliament, n.d.). The tower itself is made of brickwork with stone cladding
Figure 5: Construction of the framework for the Elizabeth Tower clock. [ Image source: http://www.parliament.uk/ ] girders.

and supported by cast iron

The cast iron clock dials were also gilded (Earth in Pictures, n.d.). According to Watson (n.d.), 312 pieces of pot opal glass were used in each clock dial. The Great Bell, nicknamed Big Ben, itself is made out of copper alloy or also known as bronze.
Figure 6: Transporting and placing the Great Bell in the Elizabeth Tower. [ Image source: http://www.parliament.uk/ ]

Figure 7: A view of the Palace of Westminster as well as Elizabeth Tower [Image source: www.http://static.guim.co.uk/]

Responsible for the gothic revival of the 19th century and with over 150 years of history, the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower stands today as one of Londons most iconic places to visit due to significance in British culture, architecture as well as administration.

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REFERENCES
Burden, E. (2000). Elements of Architectural Design: A Photographic Sourcebook. Canada: John Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1934) Earth in Pictures. (n.d.). Big Ben - pictures, photos, facts and information on Big Ben (London). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://www.earthinpictures.com/world/great_britain/london/big_ben.html Frank, M. (2008). A Brief History Of The Great Clock At Westminster Palace. Retrieved 5 May, 2013, from www.my-time-machines.net/Big_Ben_paper_web-final.pdf History of The Parliament, n.d. The New Palace of Westminster [online] Retrieved 27 April, 2013, from http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/periods/modern/new-palacewestminster Riding, C. (2005). Westminster: a new place for a new age. Retrieved 15 April, 2013, from www.bbc.co.uk/history Style Guide: Gothic Revival - Victoria and Albert Museum. (n.d.) V&A Home Page Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 5 May, 2013, from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/style-guide-gothic-revival/ The Palace of Westminster. (2003). Retrieved 27 April 2013 from www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/g12.pdf UK Parliament. (n.d.). Constructing the Elizabeth Tower. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/bigben/building-clock-tower/constructing-clock-tower Watson, T. (n.d.). Big Ben All you need to know. Retrieved April 16, 2013 from http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/big-ben-all-you-need-to-know