London - Big Ben/Houses of Parliament

[ddny]

Architect: Charles Barry

Year: 1858

Style: Gothic

Description: One of London's famous landmarks...

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben1.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben2.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben3.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben4.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben5.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben6.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben7.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/DDNY%20%20Y2K/london/bigben/bigben8.jpg

[ablarc]

Charles Barry won the commission for the Houses of Parliament, with Augustus Pugin. Barry was a kind of impresario who knew enough to stay out of the way of his more talented associate. Thus it was mostly Pugin who designed these buildings. Trouble was, Pugin was insane; he died in an asylum at age 40.

http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2003/may03/article4.html

[emmeka]

The houses of parliament are beautiful in teir own right, but sometimes the extreme complexity of it all and sheer messynes of the detail can make you feel sick.

At charing cross in london there is a spire (not very tall) that is where all of the distances in england were measured from in the olden days. this was designed by the son or the guy who built the houes of parliament (which I am now going to abreviate to 'hop').

[matt3303]

It's so easy to overlook all the careful details in not only Big Ben and Houses of Parliament but all older buildings. When you look at the whole structure, these details kind of fade. BTW, it's interesting that they still have the angels and saints on the government buildings. In America we would have "sanitized" it regardless of the historic architecture.