Throughout the centuries of monarchical rule, Britain's finest craftsmen worked on creating exquisite palaces for the royalty of the day. In the 19th century however the blance of power had shifted to such an extent that a new place was to be built but not for royalty - A palace was to be built for democracy.

It was a monument which came into being quite by accident. On the night of October 16 1834 workmen overstoked the furnace at the old westminster building which had been the seat of parliament. The flames spread quickly and fireman were able to save only the hall dating back to 1097 and St Stephen's chapel. The rest of the building was gutted.

Not everyone saw the fire as a tragedy and the Times newspaper pointed out the deficiencies of the old building and urged that a new houses of parliament should be built which would better serve the puropse to which it was intended.

A national competition was held for the design of the building with the stipulation that it had to gothic and elizabethan in feel and look as they were both styles which were fashionable at the time.

Charles, later Sir Charles, Barry won the competition but his entry was based on a set of 'exquisite and minute drawings' which were largely the work of his brilliant 23 year old assistant Augustus Pugin.

Once he was told of his selection to rebuild the palace he realised just what a problem he had and wrote to his ex-employee (for Pugin was now an architect in his own right and widely regarded as the master of 19th century gothic style).

'I am in a regular fix' Barry wrote to his once employee, begging him to help with the decoration of the house of lords. Pugin at once accepted the invitation to help and so two me with very different tastes and styles began a collaboration which would produce one of the greatest British buildings of all time.

While Barry was a staid normal architect Pugin was an erratic genius, He word a large brimmed hat and a huge clock under which he wore simple shabby clothes. Pugin thought little of his fellow architects and called them villains and scoundrrels. Although he was not a fan of classical design he later paid tribute to Barry's skill, admitting that he could never have designed a building as large and as logical as the Houses of Parliament. Barry in turn said that he himself did not have the inventiveness to produce the infinite variety and beauty of Pugin's details.

To Barry the palace owes it's basic design, a single spine starting with the House of Commons at the north and running southwards through the three major lobbies , the house of lordsd, the Prince's chamber and the Royal Gallery. Barry's great plan was completed by the two towers which balance each other at either end of the enormous building. The impressive Victoria Tower and the 320 feet high Westminster Clock tower which holds Big Ben.

Inside it is Pugin's detail which is supreme. He wrote 'I strive to revive, not invent' but when invention was required he had no shortage of ideas from which to choose, crowding thousands of tiny details into rooms such as the octagonal Central Lobby, the intricately patterned Queen's Robing Room and the moodily romantic corridors.

Yet for all it's impressive nature Barry had nothing but trouble during the construction of the Palace. He was under constant attack from critics and committees and the Royal Commission of Fine Arts which had been set up to help with the decoration of the palace. Eventually the commission took complete charge of the gigantic and melodramatic murals.

Barry also had a long standing arguement with Edmund Beckett Denison, the designer of the clock and Big Ben itself, the 14 ton bell which was named after the Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner of works. Despite the varying problems - the initial failure of the clock to work, the cracking of Big Ben I and II - the bell , still cracked, has loudly chimed the time for over 100 years and the 14ft minute hand has travelled has continued to travel over 100 miles a year ever since it was erected.

Unfortunately both the designers died before the palace was finished in 1867. Pugin died in 1852 - only 40 years old and insane - and Barry died in 1860.