Plan of His Majestys ancient Palace of Westminster and adjacent buildings

This plan of the Palace of Westminster and adjacent buildings as they appeared in the year 1807 was donated to the London Museum in 1915 by a relative of Adam Lee. Lee had been Labourer in Trust at Westminster and was responsible for a number of plans, elevations and perspective views.

In 1834 both Houses of Parliament and most other buildings on the site were destroyed by a fire that started in the furnaces below the House of Lords. Richard Whibley, the Clerk of Works, had been instructed to get rid of a large number of old wooden tally sticks (an old form of recording money paid into the Exchequer), and two cart-loads were fed into the furnaces during the day of 16 October 1834. This plan shows the location of the furnaces as the two shaded squares in the cellars under the House of Lords.