The neo-gothic victorian triumph on the banks of the thames is the palace of westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament. The original palace was built for Edward the Confessor, circa 1065, and for 400 years it was a royal residence. The only remaining medieval part of the Palace is Westminster Hall, built in 1099.
In 1834 someone disposed of several ancient wooden tally-rods in the basement furnace, and the resulting conflagration soon consumed most of the building. Many considered it a blessing to be able to rebuild the draughty old edifice. The architect Sir Charles Barry was the driving force behind the new design, a great and beautiful monument to Victorian artifice, completed in 1860. His assistant, augustus pugin, provided the inspired gothic decoration but died before its completion.
The public is admitted only to the House of Commons and House of Lords to hear debates (Prime Ministers question time is on Wednesdays from noon), although en route to the former you can glimpse the medieval interior of Westminster Hall, where Sir Thomas More, Guy Fawkes and Charles 1st were tried and condemned to death. The most famous element of Barry's design is the clock tower housing Big Ben, a 13 ton bell. The name is thought to commemorate Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Commissioner of Works when the bell was cast in 1859, however it may also have been named after a boxer of the day Benjamin Caunt.
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