Palace of Westminster United Kingdom

Legendary

The meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of Parliament.

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The building that houses Britain's Parliament burned down because someone was cleaning out a closet. In October 1834, workers were told to get rid of centuries of old wooden tally sticks, notched pieces of wood once used to record taxes.

They tossed them into the basement furnaces. The chimneys overheated, and by evening the palace was in flames.

Crowds gathered on the bridges to watch. One of them was the painter J.M.W. Turner, who sketched the fire and later turned it into two famous paintings.

Almost everything was lost. The one great survivor was Westminster Hall, built in 1097 and still standing today with the largest medieval timber roof in Europe.

The site's story goes back further. In the 11th century, King Canute and later Edward the Confessor built the first royal palace here on the north bank of the River Thames.

Kings lived at Westminster for the next 500 years. Parliament began meeting here in the 1200s and never left.

After the fire, the government held a design contest. Architect Charles Barry won with a Gothic plan, and Augustus Pugin designed the details, from the clock tower to the wallpaper.

Construction started in 1840 and took 30 years. Both architects died before it was finished.

The result is enormous. The palace has over 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases, and about 3 miles of hallways, spread across 8 acres beside the river.

It's also getting old. A major restoration is underway that's expected to cost billions and take until the 2030s.

Take a guided tour to stand in Westminster Hall and walk through both chambers, the green House of Commons and the red House of Lords. Look up at the clock tower, home to the bell called Big Ben, which was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012. Then cross Westminster Bridge for the classic view of the whole river front.