Palace of Westminster
Commentary
The commission for the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster was awarded as the outcome of a fiercely fought open competition (a common feature of Victorian architectural practice) in which the notable architects of the age vied with one another to produce a design which would meet with official approval. In the event, it was virtually a foregone conclusion that a Gothic revival entry would win the battle. As Sutton observes on p. 274, ‘For patriotic reasons, the new design had to be Gothic or Elizabethan, since these styles supposedly represented the ancient sources of British liberty.’
Sutton claims, that this building represents ‘the happy result of collaboration between a classicist, Charles Barry, and a Goth, A.W.N. Pugin’. The view shown, of the river front of the palace of Westminster, does give something of the feel of a Classical building – underneath its Gothic cladding. One notices the division of the overall façade into a central portion (demarcated by two towers, and a higher roof-line), and flanking ‘wings’… and there is something about the insistent rhythm of the window bays and pinnacles that recalls a Classical order
