Architecture and Politics in the Palace of Westminster, 1399 to the Present

This article explores the relationship between architecture and political culture in the Palace of Westminster from 1399 to the present day. Drawing on the research of the AHRC-funded St Stephen's Chapel and Listening to the Commons projects, it addresses four research themes: the architecture of the Commons and Lords chambers from the medieval period to the present; access to political space at Westminster, focusing in particular on the experience of women before the extension of the franchise; the acoustics of parliamentary space, drawing on fieldwork at Westminster as well as archival research; and questions of parliamentary ceremony, ritual and space in long historical perspective.