Statue of George V, Westminster

The Imperial Monumental Halls and Tower was a proposed Gothic complex designed for a site in London adjacent to Westminster Abbey. The plans, exhibited at the Royal Academy in March 1904, included a 167-metre-high (548 ft) tower that would have dominated the Clock Tower and Victoria Tower of the nearby Houses of Parliament. It was never built. The design by John Pollard Seddon – then diocesan architect for London – and Edward Beckitt Lamb (son of Edward Buckton Lamb) was based on earlier schemes that each had proposed separately, and was one of many extensions proposed for Westminster Abbey in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by architects such as George Gilbert Scott, George John Shaw Lefevre, James Fergusson, and Henry Travis. In particular, the clergy at the abbey were concerned that it was becoming crowded with monuments, and more space was needed. Some of the proposed designs were considered by a Royal Commission in 1891. The issue was given added impetus after the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in August 1902, by a desire for Westminster Abbey to become a fitting Imperial monument, to compete with the baroque St Paul's Cathedral where Queen Victoria had commemorated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The architects aspired to create a grand and expensive monument to "form a worthy centre to the metropolis of the Empire 'upon which the sun never sets'". The complex was planned to be joined to the Great Cloister of Westminster Abbey, leading to a 65-foot-wide (20 m) reception hall beneath the tower, with the main body of the building – the Great Monumental Hall – stretching 192 feet (59 m) along Great College Street and incorporating smaller side halls. The halls would have ended with a double transept at the south end, 157 feet (48 m) wide and 47 feet (14 m) deep. The soaring Memorial Tower included a high-level open ambulatory, surmounted by a corona topped by a lantern with bells. It was intended to hold monuments and imperial trophies in galleries on the lower floors, with archives on the upper floors. It would have been the tallest building in the United Kingdom, significantly higher than the 111 metres (364 ft) dome of St Paul's Cathedral. The complex would have had a similar floor area to Westminster Abbey, and would have overshadowed the Houses of Parliament close by. The scheme of work would have included the completion of the tower over the crossing at Westminster Abbey. The Builder magazine criticised the scheme as exhibiting a degree of megalomania.

The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates and a flight of stairs.The structure of the chapel is a three-aisled nave composed of four bays. The apse of the chapel contains the altar, and behind that, the tombs of Henry VII and his wife as well as of James I. There are five apsidal chapels.The chapel is noted for its pendant fan vault ceiling. The chapel is built in a very late Perpendicular Gothic style, the magnificence of which caused John Leland to call it the orbis miraculum (the wonder of the world). The tombs of several monarchs including Henry VII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II and Mary, Queen of Scots are found in the chapel.The chapel has also been the mother church of the Order of the Bath since 1725, and the banners of members hang above the stalls.

The Jewel Tower is a 14th-century surviving element of the Palace of Westminster, in London, England. It was built between 1365 and 1366, under the direction of William of Sleaford and Henry de Yevele, to house the personal treasure of King Edward III. The original tower was a three-storey, crenellated stone building which occupied a secluded part of the palace and was protected by a moat linked to the River Thames. The ground floor featured elaborate sculpted vaulting, described by historian Jeremy Ashbee as "an architectural masterpiece". The tower continued to be used for storing the monarch's treasure and personal possessions until 1512, when a fire in the palace caused King Henry VIII to relocate his court to the nearby Palace of Whitehall. At the end of the 16th century the House of Lords began to use the tower to store its parliamentary records, building a house alongside it for the use of the parliamentary clerk, and extensive improvements followed in 1621. The tower continued as the Lords' records office through the 18th century and several renovations were carried out to improve its fire-proofing and comfort, creating the present appearance of the tower. It was one of only four buildings to survive the burning of Parliament in 1834, after which the records were moved to the Victoria Tower, built for the purpose of storing archives, and part of the new neo-Gothic Palace of Westminster. In 1869 the Jewel Tower was taken over by the newly formed Standard Weights and Measures Department, which used it for storing and testing official weights and measures. The rising level of passing vehicular traffic made the tower increasingly unsuitable for this work, and by 1938 the department had abandoned it in favour of other facilities. In 1948 the building was placed into the care of the Ministry of Works, which repaired the damage inflicted to the tower during the Second World War and restored the building extensively, clearing the surrounding area and opening the tower to tourists. Today the Jewel Tower is managed by English Heritage and receives about 30,000 visitors annually.

Richard Coeur de Lion is a Grade II listed equestrian statue of the 12th-century English monarch Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, who reigned from 1189 to 1199. It stands on a granite pedestal in Old Palace Yard outside the Palace of Westminster in London, facing south towards the entrance to the House of Lords. It was created by Baron Carlo Marochetti, an Italian sculptor whose works were popular with European royalty and the nobility, though often less well regarded by critics and the artistic establishment. The statue was first produced in clay and displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851, where it was located outside the west entrance to the Crystal Palace. It was well received at the time and two years later Queen Victoria and Prince Albert headed a list of illustrious subscribers to a fund that aimed to raise money for the casting of the statue in bronze. Although the money was duly raised and the bronze cast of the statue was finally completed in 1856, a lengthy dispute delayed its installation for several years. The original idea had been to erect the statue as a memorial to the Great Exhibition. This prompted opposition, as did proposals to place it outside Charles Barry's newly completed Palace of Westminster. Various other locations to display the statue were initially considered before agreement was reached that it would be placed in Old Palace Yard, Marochetti's preferred location. It was installed in October 1860, though it was not until March 1867 that it was finally completed with the addition of bronze bas-reliefs on either side of the pedestal. The quality of the statue's workmanship caused problems during its first half-century; the horse's tail fell off the day after it was installed at the Great Exhibition, and forty years after its installation it was discovered to be riddled with holes and to have never been properly attached to its pedestal. It narrowly escaped destruction during the Second World War when a German bomb dropped during the Blitz landed a few metres away and peppered it with shrapnel. The pedestal and the horse's tail were damaged and Richard's sword was bent by the blast. In 2009, the Parliamentary authorities undertook a project to conserve and restore the statue.

Old Palace Yard is a paved open space in the City of Westminster in Central London, England. It lies between the Palace of Westminster to its north and east and Westminster Abbey to its west. It is known as the site of executions, including those of Sir Walter Raleigh, Guy Fawkes and other conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot, and James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, following the Battle of Preston. St Margaret Street/Abingdon Street divides Old Palace Yard into two parts, running diagonally from the north-west to the south-east. The eastern, larger part belongs to the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. To the north of the Yard is St Stephen's Entrance, the public entrance into the Palace, as well as the great South Window of Westminster Hall. Standing near this window and facing away from it is a bronze equestrian statue of Richard Coeur de Lion (King Richard I, also known as "Richard the Lionheart"). Created by Baron Carlo Marochetti, the statue was completed in 1856 and installed in its present location in 1860. The eastern side of Old Palace Yard is defined by the West Front of the Palace, which is part of the precincts of the House of Lords; the carriage porch of the Peers' Entrance marks the middle of this frontage, and the Victoria Tower its southern end. Access to this part of Old Palace Yard is restricted for security reasons by means of concrete barriers. For most of the year it is used as a car park for the House of Lords, but it is cleared of barriers and street furniture for the annual State Opening of Parliament, the formal opening of the legislative session by the British monarch. Conveyed from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in a horse-drawn carriage, the monarch passes through the Yard en route to the Sovereign's Entrance, at the foot of the Victoria Tower. The western part of Old Palace Yard is freely accessible to the public. To its west are located the Henry VII Chapel and the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, while to its south stands 6–7 Old Palace Yard, the sole survivor of the row of houses that used to surround the Yard. The building is now part of the Parliamentary Estate. Close by is a statue of King George V, made of Portland stone; sculpted by Sir William Reid Dick and unveiled in 1947, it stands on a pedestal by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and faces the Peers' Entrance of the Palace of Westminster. In 2002, an analemmatic sundial was fitted into the Yard's pavement in front of the statue, as a gift to Queen Elizabeth II from Parliament on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee.

The Parliamentary Estate is the land and buildings used by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The most notable part of the Parliamentary Estate is the Palace of Westminster, where the chambers of both houses of Parliament (the Commons and the Lords) are located. The oldest part of the Palace of Westminster is Westminster Hall, the historic core of the building; the present-day Palace of Westminster was built after a major fire in 1834 destroyed all of the palace except for Westminster Hall, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, the Cloisters and Chapter House of St Stephen's, and the Jewel Tower. The palace includes two courtyards, the Old Palace Yard and New Palace Yard; the former dates to the time of Edward the Confessor, while the latter was built in 1097 on the orders of William II (Rufus).The northern part of the Parliamentary Estate lies north of Bridge Street. It includes Canon Row; Parliament Street; Derby Gate (formerly the Whitehall Club); houses office space for parliamentary staff and the Commons Library); Norman Shaw North and Norman Shaw South (two 1890s buildings, both containing office space for members of Parliament (MPs) and their staff); Portcullis House (an office building for MPs and staff, opened February 2001); and Richmond House and Richmond Terrace (which became part of the Parliamentary Estate in January 2018).

A statue of Oliver Cromwell stands outside the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in Westminster, London. Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland between 1653 and 1658. Directly opposite the statue, in the wall of St Margaret's Church, on the other side of the road, is a bust of Charles I, which is often unnoticed. The statue was designed by Hamo Thornycroft and erected in 1899. It has divided opinion, both before its erection and since, due to Cromwell's opposition to the monarchy and his role in the conquest of Ireland. The statue is one of five public statues of Cromwell in the United Kingdom and is Grade II listed for its architectural merit.

Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster, London because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Over a century after his death, William Shakespeare was commemorated with a monument in 1740. Over the centuries, a tradition has grown up of interring or memorialising people there in recognition of their contribution to British culture. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the honour is awarded to writers. In 2009, the founders of the Royal Ballet were commemorated in a memorial floor stone and on 25 September 2010, the writer Elizabeth Gaskell was celebrated with the dedication of a panel in the memorial window. On 6 December 2011, former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was commemorated with a floor stone. On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone. The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016.

College Green (aka Abingdon Green, formally known as Abingdon Street Gardens) is a public park in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is east of Westminster Abbey including Westminster Abbey Gardens and across a road from the gardens of the Houses of Parliament. The gardens are not enclosed and are accessible at all times. For many months of 2019, during the Brexit deadlock, it exclusively hosted TV broadcasts and radio and media interviews. The park is a common place for television reporters to interview Members of Parliament. Henry Moore's bronze sculpture Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65 is in the gardens.The gardens are a roof to a two-storey underground car park constructed from 1963 to 1964. The site was originally a tidally flooded bank of the River Thames separated from the College Garden of Westminster Abbey by a medieval wall with a watergate. Its name refers to the collegiate church of Westminster Abbey, which includes Westminster School.

The Victoria Tower is a square tower at the south-west end of the Palace of Westminster in London, adjacent to Black Rod's Garden on the west and Old Palace Yard on the east. At 98.5 metres (323 ft), it is slightly taller than the Elizabeth Tower (formerly known as the Clock Tower and popularly known as 'Big Ben') at the north end of the Palace (96.3 metres (316 ft)). At the time of its construction it was the tallest square tower in the world. It was designed by Charles Barry in the Perpendicular Gothic style and was completed in 1860. It houses the Parliamentary Archives in archive conditions meeting the BS 5454 standard, on 12 floors. All 14 floors of the building were originally linked via a single wrought-iron Victorian staircase of 553 steps, of which five floors survive. The steps are made of granite quarried from Cairngall in Aberdeenshire.The main entrance at the base of the tower is the Sovereign's Entrance, through which the Monarch passes at the State Opening of Parliament. On top of the Victoria Tower is an iron flagstaff from which flies the Union Flag or, when the Sovereign is present in the Palace, the Royal Standard. The flag used to be flown only on days when either House of Parliament sat, but since January 2010 it has been flown every day.

College Garden is a private garden of Westminster Abbey in London, open to the public every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon throughout the year. The hours are 10 am to 6 pm in summer and 10 am to 4 pm in winter. The garden can be visited separately from the abbey and no charge is made to visit the garden alone. While visiting College Garden, it is also possible to visit the Little Cloister Garden, a small garden with a fountain in the cloisters, and St Catherine's Garden which is in the ruins of the old monastic infirmary. Probably the best time to visit the gardens is in the spring. A thousand years ago, this was the infirmary garden of the monastery, then on Thorney Island, and it is claimed to be the oldest garden in England under continuous cultivation. While the main function of the College Garden is no longer to feed hungry monks, the area still retains an atmosphere of calm, despite being situated in such a busy area. Remembering the Herbarium that the monks created here, a new herb garden was created in 2010. Its current name refers to the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster Abbey, rather than to its component Westminster School of which Lord Burlington's College Dormitory building forms the west side. The north side is formed by the great hall of Westminster School (originally the monks' dormitory), and the houses of the abbey canons; the east and south sides are a medieval wall with a watergate which formerly opened into the River Thames, now embanked fifty yards away beyond the House of Lords. Just outside the watergate, College Green is often seen in television interviews with politicians.

The White Chamber was part of the medieval Palace of Westminster. Originally a dining hall, and then the location for the Court of Requests, it was the meeting place of the House of Lords from 1801 until it was gutted by fire in 1834. Re-roofed, it was the temporary home of the House of Commons until 1851, when it was pulled down for the building of the new Palace of Westminster. Also known as the Lesser Hall, the White Hall or the Greater White Chamber, it measured 120 by 34 feet (37 m × 10 m). It was situated to the south of the somewhat larger Westminster Hall (the Great Hall), with the same north–south alignment. It was built c. 1167 as a dining hall, and then remodelled by Henry III, adjacent to his new King's Chamber to the east, which was perpendicular to the south end of the White Chamber. The King's Chamber was originally a state bedchamber, and later used for state ceremonies; due to its lavish painted decoration, it became known as the Painted Chamber. To the south of the east end of the King's Chamber was the Queen's Chamber, an even smaller chamber for his queen, Eleanor of Provence. (The Queen's Chamber was also sometimes known as the White Chamber; to avoid confusion with the other White Chamber, the Lesser Hall might be distinguished as the Great White Chamber or the White Hall.) Like the King's Chamber and the Queen's Chamber, the White Chamber was on the upper storey of the building, with cellars for the services below. The White Chamber was repaired after a fire in 1298 which destroyed the old St Stephen's Chapel. The custom grew for Parliament to be convened by the King in the Painted Chamber, and then from c.1259 the Lords retired to the Queen's Chamber and the Commons elsewhere (sometimes in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey; later to the rebuilt St Stephen's Chapel, which ran east–west to the north end of the White Chamber). Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars below the Queen's Chamber (formerly the Royal kitchens) in 1605. The White Chamber was the home of the Court of Requests (also known as the Court of Conscience) until 1801. The Court of Requests was associated with the Privy Council, and heard complaints and petitions to the King. The Court became known as the "Court of White Hall". The House of Lords moved from the Queen's Chamber to the White Hall in 1801, as it needed more space to accommodate Irish peers after the Act of Union with Ireland. To make room, the Court of Requests moved to the Painted Chamber. When used as the House of Lords, the King's throne was located on a dais at the south end of the White Hall, with the Lord Chancellor's woolsack and a table in front for the house's clerks and mace, surrounded by benches on three sides - for the government, the opposition, and the non-partisan crossbenches. Tapestries were hung from the walls, showing the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It was lit by high, semicircular windows. The vacated Queen's Chamber, and the Prince's Chamber, were pulled down by Sir John Soane in 1823 to create a new Royal Gallery and Staircase. The White Chamber survived, but was gutted in the devastating fire in 1834. The fire started in the cellar below the White Chamber, where piles of unwanted tally sticks were being destroyed in two furnaces used to warm the chamber above. Many of the other principal rooms of the palace were severely damaged, including the Painted Chamber and St Stephen's Chapel. The Great Hall was largely unscathed. The Painted Chamber and White Chamber were re-roofed so the House of Lords could move temporarily to the former, and the Commons to the latter. The ruins of the White Chamber were demolished in September 1851 to make way for the building of the new Palace of Westminster.