Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge

A drawing with the bridge in the foreground, looking westwards upstream to the Houses of Parliament in the background, including Big Ben. The current bridge was opened in 1862 and replaced its badly subsiding predecessor (dating back to 1750 with modifications in 1763).

After a series of serious fires in 1512 and1834, the present Houses of Parliament seen here, and incorporating some of the original architecture designed by Charles Barry, was completed in 1870.