Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 0AA

Illustration by Andrew Cadey

The Palace of Westminster was designed by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin after a catastrophic fire destroyed the medieval palace in 1834. The street-facing façade leading toward the Central Tower is a masterpiece of the 19th-century Gothic Revival style, notable for its careful historicism and civic grandeur. This highly structured elevation exhibits a rigorous symmetry and rhythmic repetition of architectural elements, cleverly concealing the complex, asymmetrical layout of the interior courtyards behind it. The façade is constructed primarily from the warm, honey-coloured Anston limestone, richly adorned with Perpendicular Gothic motifs, paneling, and delicate tracery. Row upon row of pointed-arch windows are separated by slender vertical buttresses that draw the eye upward, producing a continuous, monumental tapestry of stone that commands the public thoroughfare.

Limited first edition print run of 75