Big Ben (St. Stephen's Tower)

The Houses of Parliament
Westminster, London
Structure: cut stone bearing masonry
Completed 1859
Architect: Sir Charles Barry, with A.W.N. Pugin
Style: Gothic Revival

At 320 feet, Britain's famed clocktower crowns one end of the Houses of Parliament in London. The Parliament, erected between 1840 and 1860, replaced the older Parliament buildings which had burnt down in 1834. It is a striking amalgam of Gothic and pseudo-Gothic structures on a plan inspired in great part by ancient and contemporary Neo-classic architecture. The end result is a huge structure that is part cathedral and part castle.

Big Ben itself is named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Commissioner of Works when the tower's clock and its 14-ton, 9-foot-diameter bell were installed in 1850. (Technically, Big Ben refers to the clock and bell, while the clocktower in which they are located is named St. Stephen's Tower). In 1923, the bell started striking the hour for the first time. Big Ben is one of the world's most accurate clocks, signalling the hour within 1 and 1/2 seconds of Greenwich Mean Time. Since 1924, the BBC has broadcast its chimes as a daily time signal.

Photo courtesy Patrick Beckers, http://www.skyscraperpicture.com