THE FATHER OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT

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THE FATHER OF THE BRITISHPARLIAMENT

• SIR CHARLES BARRY

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Table of contents  
From the beginning page 2   About the British
Parliament page 3   Sir Charles Barrys most
famous works page 4   Interview with Sir
Charles Barry page 6   Picture Gallery about
the Parliament page 8   Did you know? page 9
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SIR CHARLES BARRY THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN
LONDON    
Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) was an English
architect, best known for his role in the
rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament in his
home city of London... From the
beginning...   He was born in London in 1795. He
was educated privately and worked as a surveyor's
apprentice... At the age of 15 he apprenticed
to a London surveyor, but when his father died
Barry was left a legacy which allowed him to
travel throughout Italy, France, Greece, Turkey,
Egypt, and Syria, studying buildings and making
architectural drawings. Influenced by the
architects of the Italian Renaissance, when Barry
returned to England he designed the Travellers
Club that had been founded by Lord Castlereagh in
1814. Upon his return to England, Barry began
designing churches for the Church Commissioners.
He discovered that they preferred designs in
Gothic and Greek styles, so he concentrated his
efforts in those areas, building churches in
London, Brighton, and Manchester.
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In 1824 he won his first major civic commission,
the Royal Institution in Manchester .This success
was followed by two influential clubs in London,
The Traveller's Club (1830) and the Reform Club
(1838). about the British Parliament In
1834 the old Palace of Westminster, where the
House of Commons had met since 1547, was
destroyed by fire. The only parts of the medieval
Palace to survive were Westminster Hall, the
Jewel Tower, the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel,
and the adjacent cloisters. Charles Barry and
Augustus Welby Pugin were commissioned to design
and build a new House of Commons and a House of
Lords. The design was essentially classical - a
tribute to Barry's Italian training, but with a
plenitude of Gothic details by Pugin. Barry's
design was chosen the winner over 95 other
architects, and over the next several decades
years he worked closely with AW Pugin to create
the neo-Gothic masterpiece. The
surviving parts of the medieval Palace were
skillfully incorporated into the overall design
of the new buildings, which also includes the
Victoria Tower, at 336 feet considered the
tallest tower in the world at the time of its
construction. At the opposite end of the building
rises the much more famous clock tower known as
Big Ben.   Sir Charles Barry died in 1860,
however the family tradition for prominent public
architecture was carried on by three of Barry's
sons.  
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His most famous works   -         The Athenaeum
in Manchester (Manchester City Art Gallery) in
1836 -         Trafalgar Square Precinct in
1840                       -         The Cabinet
Office in 1845 -         He also developed the
classical Treasury Building in Whitehall, London
in 1846. -         Bowood in Wiltshire -        
Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and
Galloway -         Duncombe Park in North
Yorkshire -         Dunrobin Castle in
Highland -         Edgbaston Hall in West
Midlands -         Eynsham Hall in
Oxfordshire -         Gawthorpe Hall in
Lancashire -         He also worked extensively
on Highclere Castle in Hampshire in 1842, where
he adapted his work sympathetically to the
largely Elizabethan structure. -         Hinton
Manor in Oxfordshire -         Kiddington Hall in
Oxfordshire -         Kingston Lacy in
Dorset -         He designed the new Reform Club
in 1838, an exclusive gentleman's club formed by
leading Whigs to celebrate the passing of the
1832 Reform Act.  
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-         The Royal College of Surgeons, London
-         Sandon Park in Staffordshire TTown
Houses Country Houses Barry used the Italian
Rennaissance palace theme into a variety of town
houses and country house commissions,
including -         Bridgewater House in London
in 1846 -         Cliveden in Buckinghamshire in
1859 H H H Harewood House in West
Yorkshire Ddespite these successes, it is for his
work with one building in particular that Barry
will always be remembered  
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Interview with Sir Charles Barry
Interviewer. What was the most influential
experience for you in your life? Sir Charles
Barry I think I couldnt create any buildings
without any travels around Europe. I feel lucky
that I could see the so many beautiful buildings
in Greece and in Egypt. No one can start
engineering or architecting without getting some
nice experience by seeing for example the
Colosseum or the pyramids. I. And during your
travels abroad you were affected by the Italian
Renaissance, werent you? S. C. B. Yes. It is
true. I used this style for several of my works
including The Reform Club design, based on
Italian Rennaissance palace layout. I. Have you
ever regretted choosing this career? I mean
architecting/engineering. S.C.B. No, I havent!
I have never thought that I was wrong. My life is
about making buildings. If I could not do this, I
would not be satisfied with my life. I have a
nice wife, nice children but my life can be
completed only with architecting. I. Your sons
also deal with engineering. Is that
true? S.C.B. Oh, yes! I am very pleased that
they regard this profession as important as I do.
John designed Tower Bridge in London, Charles
rebuilt Burlington
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House in Piccadilly, and I hope Edward will also
have the chance to improve his talent. I. What
do you feel after that you had the opportunity to
take part in such a big construction as the
building of The Houses of Parliament in
Britain? S.C.B. I am very proud. And I am very
happy that I could work together with A. W.
Pugin. I believe it is the Parliament that has
made me really well-known. This is my greatest
work. I. Was it a very hard work? S. C. B.
Yes, it was really hard, but I enjoyed the
construction. The only thing that made my work so
complicated was the fact that my design was not
liked by the Commons when they finally met in
their new chambers in 1852. The members
complained that the high ceilings produced poor
acoustics. So I was forced to lower the ceilings,
thus spoiling the Gothic proportions I had
striven to emulate. I. Anyway, it has become
one of the most beautiful buildings of the world.
Thank you for your answers, Sir Charles Barry.
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In the old times
Queen Elizabeth II in the Parliament
The assembly hall  
Picture Gallery about the Houses of Parliament

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DDid you know?   SSome information about the
British election rules political
parties         What are the 2 largest parties
in the British Parliament? è   Labour Party
Conservative Party         The type of sytem
è   first-past-the-post system         How
many MPs (Member of Parliament) are elected
directly? è   659         How many MPs are
elected indirectly? è           How many
ballot papers do voters fill in? è   1        
How many rounds can the election have? è  
1      
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 What majority is required of the winning
candidate?    simple majority    Do people vote
for parties directly?   no!    Are there
so-called party-lists?    no!   Do votes cast
on losing candidates count at the election any
way?    no!
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THE FATHER OF THE HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT    

IMRE STEINDL
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Table of contents  
From the beginning page 2   About the
Hungarian Parliament page 3   Steindl Imres
most famous works page 4   Interview with
Steindl Imre page 6   Picture Gallery about
the Parliament page 8   Did you know? page
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Imre Steindl The Parliament in Budapest  

• Imre Steindl (1839-1902) found pleasure
  in the arts, and sacrifised all his time to the
  arts
• From the beginning
•   He was born in Budapest on 20 October in
  1839 as a son of an honoured jeweller. He went to
  primary and secondary school in Pest, then he
  studied at the technological university in Buda.
  At the age of 20 he went to the Academy in Vienna
  to study arhitecture from an artistic point of
  view.
•  
• Owing to his great talent and
  hard-working, he was offered a job as assistant
  lecturer at the technological university in Buda.
  However he was working there for only 2 years
  because he wanted to study again but this time at
  the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
• Because of his hard-working and artistic
  knowledge Steindl became one of the bests at the
  academy. He got appreciative document for private
  buildings and he won the very first academic
  prize, the Fuger s golden medal by designing
  public buildings even at the end of the school
  year he was exempted of the usual exams and he
  got excellent report book. At the academy his
  greatest work was a lengthy plan of a Gothic
  royal castle.

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He also took part actively in a survey led by
Schmidt. The drawings made by these surveys were
born in the Bauhütte. The plans of burial
chapels of Ábrahám Nemes and Count
Gyula Andrássy.   From 1869 I worked as an
assistant lecturer at the Technological
University in Buda and from 1870 I taught
Medieval engineering.   about the Hungarian
Parliament   After restoring several buildings
in the Gothic style, he won the tender for the
construction of the Houses of Parliament in 1883.
The building of the permanent parliament was
started in 1885. The two houses of law-making
are House of Lords , the northern part of the
building and the House of Representatives, the
southern part of the building whereas the symbol
of the unity of law-making is the dome rising
from the middle of the building.   Steindl
designed the Parliament in Neo-Gothic style
because he knew this Medieval style the best. The
floor plan of the building is rectangular. On the
front there are a lot of coats of arms, statues
(for example of King Matthias), pillars,
balconies sharing the surface with varied shaped
windows.   Construction was completed in 1904.
    The greatest work of Steindls life is
the Parliament in Budapest which made him really
famous countryside and over.
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His most famous works -   The Civil and
Punishing Law Court Palace of Pest in 1868 -  
He won first prize for The Town Hall of Arad. -  
In 1871 he planned the Commercial and Credit Bank
in Buda and next year he built it. -   He took
part in the competition of designing the
Parliament in Berlin and his plan was
appreciated. -   Although he came only second in
the contest of designs of the new City Hall in
Váci Street, his plans were executed. -  
Steindl worked mostly in Budapest but he extended
his talent out of the city, too. For example, the
redesigning plan of -   the castle of Rakovszky
Géza in Kosóc, -   the church in Kun- Baja, -  
the Bika-Hotel in Debrecen. -   The familiar
burial chapel of Gyulai Sámuel in 1874 -   The
Veterinary Educational Institution 1880 -1882
-   The hydras sentry boxes of the
Margit-Gate -   The rebuilding of the Hild
József Technological University of Italian
Renaissance style -   the tenements of the
Agarasztó-family and Lyka-family. -   Szent
Erzsébet Parish Church of Gothic in 1901
Steindl Imre is the best restorer of historic
monuments   -   In 1870 he took over the
restoration of the Vajda-Hunyad Castle after the
death of Schulcz Ferenc but the repairs were
stopped in need of matters.    
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  IIt is found on the top of a rock at the Lake
Zalasd   SSome other buildings restored by
him -         the Franciscan Church in Szeged in
1876, -         the Parish Church in Máriafalva
of Gothic style in 1878-1880, -         the
Cathedral in Kassa in 1877   IImre Steindl was a
real artist with a great creative power.
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Interview with Imre Steindl
Interviewer What has been your best experience
up to now?   Imre Steindl My best experince?
Well, I have had several during my life. For
example when I was working at the Technological
University in Buda I wandered with my students
whole Hungary and I made them know and draw the
most beautiful memorials. It is a really nice
memory . These drawnigs number about five
hundred.   I. You studied in Vienna twice. Was
it hard to study abroad?   I. S. Yes, it was a
little bit hard but I am proud of my great
teachers. I had the chance to listen to the
lectures of the famous Van der Nüll,
Siccardsburg, Rosner, for example and I was also
taught arcitectural art by Eitelberg.   I. You
lead a very simple life style and you are very
modest. Have you never craved for being in the
limelight?   I. S. Thank you for the compliment
but it is true that I have never envied others
their success. I have never searched for having
fun, I have always found pleasure in arts, and
sacrificed all my time to the arts. I have never
worked for tremendous success.
  I. Did you think that you would create a new
style with the Parliament? I. S. No, I didnt.
My aim was to bring national and individual
spirit into the superb (Gothic) style of the
Middle Ages as it is always expected from the
arts.
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I. You belong to several institutions owing to
your great talent. Are you very busy? Can you
tell us the name of some of them?   I. S. Yes,
I am busy but mostly because of my work. However
it is true that I am a member of several
organisations. In 1891 I was elected an honorary
correspondent member by the Royal Instute of
British Architects and I was also elected a
member by the Hungarian Learned Academy. Maybe
it happened in 1898 or 1899. Unfortunately, I
dont remember the exact date. Oh, and I am the
member of the National Council of Fine Arts and
the Council of the Community Services of
Budapest, too.   I. You have won lots of prizes
including the "Medaille für Kunst" medal and the
Officier d'Academie medal but which one are you
the most proud of?   I. S. In 1900 the king
gave me the greatest prize that could be given to
an artist the "Pro Litteris et Artibus" gold
honours. I was very pleased to get it. It means
a lot to me.   I. Thank you for your answers, Mr
Imre Steindl.  
 



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Picture Gallery about the Parliament
  In the old times     The
dome from outside
Stairs  

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DDid you know?   SSome information about the
Hungarian election rules political
parties         What are the 2 largest parties
in the Hungarian Parliament? è   
MSZP,SZDSZ         The type of sytem è   
simple majority         How many MPs (Member of
Parliament) are elected directly? è   
176         How many MPs are elected
indirectly? è    152         How many ballot
papers do voters fill in? è    2    
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How many rounds can the election have?    
2   What majority is required of the winning
candidate?     absolute majority   Do people vote
for parties directly?     yes!   Are there
so-called party-lists?     yes!   Do votes cast
on losing candidates count at the election any
way?     yes!