<P> The Palace of Westminster, the medieval royal palace used as the home of the British parliament, was largely destroyed by fire on 16 October 1834 . The blaze was caused by the burning of small wooden tally sticks which had been used as part of the accounting procedures of the Exchequer until 1826 . The sticks were disposed of carelessly in the two furnaces under the House of Lords, which caused a chimney fire in the two flues that ran under the floor of the Lords' chamber and up through the walls . </P> <P> The resulting fire spread rapidly throughout the complex and developed into the biggest conflagration in London between the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz of the Second World War; the event attracted large crowds which included several artists who provided pictorial records of the event . The fire lasted for most of the night and destroyed a large part of the palace, including the converted St Stephen's Chapel--the meeting place of the House of Commons--the Lords Chamber, the Painted Chamber and the official residences of the Speaker and the Clerk of the House of Commons . </P> <P> The actions of Superintendent James Braidwood of the London Fire Engine Establishment ensured that Westminster Hall and a few other parts of the old Houses of Parliament survived the blaze . In 1836 a competition for designs for a new palace was won by Charles Barry . Barry's plans, developed in collaboration with Augustus Pugin, incorporated the surviving buildings into the new complex . The competition established Gothic Revival as the predominant national architectural style and the palace has since been categorised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, of outstanding universal value . </P>

Part of the palace of westminster ruined by fire in 1834