Travel deeper into London, through its human stories.

Big Ben

• Feuding over a cracked bell
• An architect's last design

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

A Tower in Medieval Dress

In 1834, a fire destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster, where Parliament had met for centuries. Only a few medieval parts survived, among them the great Westminster Hall. When a competition was held for a new building, every entry had to be Gothic or Elizabethan in style, so that the new palace would fit in with the old hall and with Westminster Abbey across the road. Gothic is the style of Europe's medieval cathedrals, with pointed arches and tall windows and spires reaching up. In the nineteenth century, architects in Britain brought it back for new buildings, and that's what we call the Gothic Revival. For its most passionate champion, it was much more than a look. The architect Augustus Pugin believed Gothic was the true Christian way of building. In a book of drawings, he argued that building Gothic again could bring back something of the faith of the Middle Ages. Charles Barry won the competition, and Pugin worked beside him on the decoration. For the clock tower, Pugin took Barry's first design and made it taller. Into its stone he worked the rose, thistle, shamrock and leek, the national plants of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. When Barry visited Pugin's home by the sea, Pugin handed over the final design. "I never worked so hard in my life as for Mr Barry," Pugin wrote while finishing it. That same month he suffered a total breakdown. He was shut away in asylums, one of them the hospital Londoners called Bedlam, and he died later that year, aged forty. The tower was his last design, and he never saw it built.

A reflection for you

Pugin finished the tower's design in the month he suffered a breakdown. He died before seeing it built. We can admire what he made without knowing what making it was like for him. When you imagine a successful life, how much comes from the way it looks to others, and how much from what it feels like to live it?

Big Ben

• Feuding over a cracked bell
• An architect's last design

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

A Tower in Medieval Dress

In 1834, a fire destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster, where Parliament had met for centuries. Only a few medieval parts survived, among them the great Westminster Hall. When a competition was held for a new building, every entry had to be Gothic or Elizabethan in style, so that the new palace would fit in with the old hall and with Westminster Abbey across the road. Gothic is the style of Europe's medieval cathedrals, with pointed arches and tall windows and spires reaching up. In the nineteenth century, architects in Britain brought it back for new buildings, and that's what we call the Gothic Revival. For its most passionate champion, it was much more than a look. The architect Augustus Pugin believed Gothic was the true Christian way of building. In a book of drawings, he argued that building Gothic again could bring back something of the faith of the Middle Ages. Charles Barry won the competition, and Pugin worked beside him on the decoration. For the clock tower, Pugin took Barry's first design and made it taller. Into its stone he worked the rose, thistle, shamrock and leek, the national plants of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. When Barry visited Pugin's home by the sea, Pugin handed over the final design. "I never worked so hard in my life as for Mr Barry," Pugin wrote while finishing it. That same month he suffered a total breakdown. He was shut away in asylums, one of them the hospital Londoners called Bedlam, and he died later that year, aged forty. The tower was his last design, and he never saw it built.

A reflection for you

Pugin finished the tower's design in the month he suffered a breakdown. He died before seeing it built. We can admire what he made without knowing what making it was like for him. When you imagine a successful life, how much comes from the way it looks to others, and how much from what it feels like to live it?

Big Ben

• Feuding over a cracked bell
• An architect's last design

In this story, you’ll discover

Chapter 1

A Tower in Medieval Dress

In 1834, a fire destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster, where Parliament had met for centuries. Only a few medieval parts survived, among them the great Westminster Hall. When a competition was held for a new building, every entry had to be Gothic or Elizabethan in style, so that the new palace would fit in with the old hall and with Westminster Abbey across the road. Gothic is the style of Europe's medieval cathedrals, with pointed arches and tall windows and spires reaching up. In the nineteenth century, architects in Britain brought it back for new buildings, and that's what we call the Gothic Revival. For its most passionate champion, it was much more than a look. The architect Augustus Pugin believed Gothic was the true Christian way of building. In a book of drawings, he argued that building Gothic again could bring back something of the faith of the Middle Ages. Charles Barry won the competition, and Pugin worked beside him on the decoration. For the clock tower, Pugin took Barry's first design and made it taller. Into its stone he worked the rose, thistle, shamrock and leek, the national plants of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. When Barry visited Pugin's home by the sea, Pugin handed over the final design. "I never worked so hard in my life as for Mr Barry," Pugin wrote while finishing it. That same month he suffered a total breakdown. He was shut away in asylums, one of them the hospital Londoners called Bedlam, and he died later that year, aged forty. The tower was his last design, and he never saw it built.

A reflection for you

Pugin finished the tower's design in the month he suffered a breakdown. He died before seeing it built. We can admire what he made without knowing what making it was like for him. When you imagine a successful life, how much comes from the way it looks to others, and how much from what it feels like to live it?