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Westminster and Lambeth Palace
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Houses of Parliament circa 1896: The site of the old RoyalPalace at Westminster is now occupied by the Houses of Parliament, which form one of the most magnificent buildings ever erected in a single decade in Europe.
The reader who has not yet had the good fortune to make a survey of this superb temple of legislation may glean some idea of its vast proportions when we state that it covers an area of nearly nine acres; that to the eastward it presents a frontage of nearly 1,000ft.
The Clock Tower is 318ft high and the large clock has four dials, each 23ft in diameter. The Houses of Parliament cost in all about three millions sterling.
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The Houses of Parliament today: The most symbolic view of London, known the world over by millions who have never even been to the city. Bold and proud, it is an utterly Victorian building designed to last the centuries. Today all we can manage to build are over-expensive white elephants like the Millennium Dome.
Inside the Houses – I have been lucky enough to be taken ‘backstage’ – the world of the MPs and Lords is a strange mixture of country house, union pub, Oxford debating society and Victorian sorting office. They still have men employed, for example, to press buttons on the lifts.
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Houses of Parliament circa 1896: In the Old Palace Yard, about half way between Westminster Hall and the Peers’ Entrance (shown in the foreground of this view), is the statue of Richard Coeur de Lion, by the late Baron Marochetti. The king is seated on the back of a charger, but according to competent authorities, both the rider and horse are open to grave criticism. The following critique may be taken, on the whole, as fair and just: “No man on a prancing charger would be lifting up his sword, in a supposed dignified position, with his feet dangling carelessly in the stirrups.”
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Houses of Parliament today: I couldn’t take a photograph from the position our Victorian cameraman chose because of security. Today the House is surrounded by black-boarded concrete barriers designed to stop car bombers. The effect is rather like an urban moat, with the people kept at bay from their elective representatives.
The statue of Richard the Lionheart still stands in its place, offending not only the art critics, but the intellectuals who work themselves into a lather with their hatred of traditional heroes.
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Westminster Abbey circa 1896: The building of Westminster Abbey is involved in mists too dense for the sun of antiquarian research to penetrate. The general aspect of this structure is grand in the extreme. The best exterior view of it is obtained from a distance, its exquisite proportions being perhaps better appreciated when seen from the high ground in the Green Park.
The church consists of nave, choir, aisles, transepts, and sacrarium, and at the east end are Edward the Confessor's, Henry VII's, and ten other chapels.
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Westminster Abbey today: The angle from which our Victorian photographer took his shot is now built over. The scene, however, remains strikingly similar. Preservation in London is usually because of four factors: poverty, politics, religion and tradition.
Westminster Abbey is very expensive to enter and, when inside, the tourist is banned from taking photographs. Given that digital cameras are fast enough to take images without a flash in a location like this, the argument that flash photography will cause deterioration is now redundant. As far as I can see, the only reason this policy is maintained is to force visitors to purchase over-priced programmes and postcards.
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Lambeth Palace circa 1896: Above St. Thomas's Hospital, at the end of Lambeth Bridge, which has been for over six hundred years the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the above view the Palace is seen from the bridge and one admires its fine situation on the Albert Embankment.
In the foreground is seen Lambeth Pier, together with one of the penny steamers that ply upon the river during the summer months and seriously affect the dividends of the omnibus companies.
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Lambeth Palace today: The trees have grown to their full height, but very little has ostensibly changed to the Palace structure. Back in the Victorian times the power of the Archbishop was immense, his words carrying great weight. Today, of course, the Archbishop is just pleased you could come and join him for a cup of tea.
The penny steamers have sadly gone, replaced by more salubrious boats that usually come with a roof.
The river is now a far, far cleaner affair. In Victorian times it took a brave or foolhardy person to swim with Old Father Thames. Mind you, I would not recommend drinking today's Aqua Londinium: 2000 plus years of city dirt and detritus will not come out of the wash that easily.
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