2-969-806 - /Heritage Images

Lower Waiting-Hall, House of Commons, 1856. Interior of the new Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London. 'The ceiling of the Hall is divided into nine principal compartments by bold beams, at the intersections of which there are handsome bosses. From these depend small chandeliers for gas. The ceiling is next subdivided into smaller panels; the whole being of carved oak. The Hall is lighted by three windows, situated on the side opposite the staircase entrance and over the fireplace: two have two lights, and the centre one three; these are filled in with a lozenge-shaped diapering, and have near the upper part a Royal badge crowned.... The floor is composed of encaustic tiles, laid so as to correspond with the divisions of the ceiling'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.