The Victoria Tower is a square tower at the south-west end of the Palace of Westminster in London, adjacent to Black Rod's Garden on the west and

Old Palace Yard Old Palace Yard is a paved open space in the City of Westminster in Central London, England. It lies between the Palace of Westminster to its north and east and Westminster Abbey to its west. It is known as the site of executions, including those ...

on the east. At , it is slightly taller than the

Elizabeth Tower Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The official ...

(formerly known as the Clock Tower and popularly known as 'Big Ben') at the north end of the Palace (). At the time of its construction it was the tallest square tower in the world. It was designed by

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...

in the Perpendicular Gothic style and was completed in 1860. It houses the

Parliamentary Archives A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

in archive conditions meeting the BS 5454 standard, on 12 floors. All 14 floors of the building were originally linked via a single

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

Victorian staircase of 553 steps, of which five floors survive. The steps are made of granite quarried from Cairngall in Aberdeenshire. The main entrance at the base of the tower is the Sovereign's Entrance, through which the Monarch passes at the State Opening of Parliament. On top of the Victoria Tower is an iron flagstaff from which flies the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

or, when the Sovereign is present in the Palace, the

Royal Standard In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification. Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and ...

. The flag used to be flown only on days when either House of Parliament sat, but since January 2010 it has been flown every day.

History

The Victoria Tower was purpose-built as a "fireproof repository for books and documents", as required by the competition to rebuild the Palace of Westminster after the fire of 16 October 1834, which had destroyed the building and almost all of the records of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. The records of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

survived the conflagration because they were, at the time, stored in the

Jewel Tower The Jewel Tower is a 14th-century surviving element of the Palace of Westminster, in London, England. It was built between 1365 and 1366, under the direction of William of Sleaford and Henry de Yevele, to house the personal treasure of King ...

, which was at a distance from the main building and still stands across the road from the Victoria Tower. Sir Charles Barry's design for the new Palace of Westminster featured a tower over the Sovereign's Entrance, 12 floors of which incorporated record storage.

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

produced most of the architectural designs and elevations for the project and also the interior design. The first stone of the Tower was laid by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

on 22 December 1843, and construction was completed in 1860. The tower was originally named "The King's Tower" because the fire of 1834 that destroyed the old Palace of Westminster occurred during the reign of King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

. The Victoria Tower incorporates a cast-iron framework which, rather than the visible stonework, provides the main strength supporting the structure. When the wrought-iron flagstaff was erected, the tower became the tallest square tower in the world, at to the base of the flagstaff, and a further to the top of the crown finial at its summit. In 1897, the King's Tower was officially renamed as the "Victoria Tower" in tribute to

in her Diamond Jubilee year. The

underwent a complete reconstruction between 1948 and 1963 to provide 12 floors of air-conditioned document storage, and again between 2000 and 2004 to bring it up to contemporary archive storage standards. The records are preserved by cleaning, flattening and repairing old documents. New parchment was created for the Acts whose skins was torn. Some were pasted on linen and then covered with silk gauze to protect them.

Gallery

File:The base of Victoria Tower on Abingdon Street.jpg, A view of the tower from across Abingdon Street, in front of the

File:The Entrance to Victoria Tower looking north.JPG, The

neo-gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

ornament of the entrance to the Victoria Tower, looking north File:Palace of Westminster - Victoria Tower and south elevation from the south - 240404.jpg, The Victoria Tower from the south File:Victoria Tower London GB.jpg, The Union Flag on the Victoria Tower File:Top of Victoria Tower.jpg, Upper part of the Victoria Tower

References

{{coord, 51, 29, 54.01, N, 00, 07, 31.76, W, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark, name=Palace of Westminster Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster National government buildings in London Gothic Revival architecture in London Government buildings completed in 1860 Palace of Westminster Towers completed in 1860 Towers in London 1860 establishments in England