Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

Charles Barry's neo-Gothic seat of British government, with the Elizabeth Tower clock as its public face

Address Westminster, London SW1A 0AA
Admission Free to view exterior; UK Parliament tours ticketed
Website www.parliament.uk

The most photographed building in London for good reason. The 96-metre Elizabeth Tower — what nearly everyone calls Big Ben, though the name properly belongs only to the 13.5-tonne hour bell — sits at the north end of the Palace of Westminster, looking out over Westminster Bridge and the Thames. Restoration scaffolding came off in 2022 and the gilded clock faces are now back to their original Victorian colour scheme.

UK residents can lobby their MP for a free tour; everyone else can book a paid Saturday or recess-period tour that takes in Westminster Hall (the only major medieval part to survive the 1834 fire), the chambers of the Lords and Commons, and the central lobby. Tours fill weeks ahead in summer.

For free, walk the perimeter: the statue of Boudicca in her chariot at the foot of Westminster Bridge, Cromwell outside Westminster Hall, and on the other side, the Suffragette monument and the cenotaph up Whitehall. Cross the bridge to the south bank for the classic photograph at sunset.

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A story
The original Palace of Westminster burned to the ground on the night of 16 October 1834, in a fire started by overheated stoves used to dispose of tally sticks — wooden Exchequer accounting tools. J.M.W. Turner watched from the Thames and produced two of his finest paintings of the blaze. The replacement, designed by Charles Barry and decorated by Augustus Pugin, is the building we see today — finished in 1870 and still the seat of both Houses of Parliament.