The Houses of Parliament is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It is a masterpiece of Victorian architecture and a spectacular feat of civil engineering: a London landmark, instantly recognisable. Yet from the beginning, its design, construction and decoration was a battlefield, and it took twenty five years and over two million pounds to complete. This, the sequel to the award-winning The Day Parliament Burned Down, tells the true story of the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in the face of incredible odds, and of the battle by its architect Charles Barry to achieve his goal of creating nothing less than a secular cathedral to democracy.