Restored Elizabeth Tower Clock Face revealed

[-:Undertaker:-]

Restored Elizabeth Tower Clock Face revealed

After 100 years of pollution turned the hands black, Big ben looks gorgeous restored to its original colour of Prussian Blue with gold inlay #LondonCalling pic.twitter.com/9JwwEh3IbP

— Tony Parsons (@TonyParsonsUK) March 22, 2019

Very nice, although still smaller (both height and size) than the Liver Buildings clock faces...



Thoughts?

[scottish]

how much did that cost us

[-:Undertaker:-]

how much did that cost us

I think the total works on the Palace will cost £5bn.

Canada's parliamentary estate is currently undergoing what ours is about to, the work looks superb.

[scottish]

absolute waste of money

could probably build a new one for a fraction of the cost?

[-:Undertaker:-]

absolute waste of money

could probably build a new one for a fraction of the cost?

Why would we opt to build something hideous that has a lifespan of maybe 30 years (like Holyrood) when we could restore one of the finest buildings in the world, with a history of hundreds of years?

The Palace of Westminster and Stormont will still be here in 100 years, Holyrood and the Senedd won't.

[scottish]

don't build a hideous one then..

wouldn't take much and would be significantly cheaper I would imagine.

[Zak]

Looks fantastic.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Here's the difference between the Black & Gold scheme to the restored original. @Zak;

[Barkseh]

So is the new clock face exactly what it looked like 100 years ago? Including the background etc? If so it's amazing how much it has actually changed.

Here's the difference between the Black & Gold scheme to the restored original. @Zak;

[-:Undertaker:-]

@Barkseh;

Yep, as it was in 1859 when first constructed. The colour changed over the years because vivid Victorian colours went out of fashion and pollution changed the perception of the colourings. A lot of people imagine Victorian era colours to be dark and miserable - probably due to Queen Victoria's mourning period after Prince Consort Albert's early death, but it was in fact the total opposite.

It'll be a few years yet before we see the scaffold come down to reveal Elizabeth Tower. And soon, the rest of the Palace including Victoria Tower will disappear under scaffolding well into the 2020s. But the building badly needs it, there's dedicated staff atm who patrol looking for fires.