Parliament Square was designed to provide a more open aspect for the new
Houses of Parliament built in 1870.
Parliament Square was laid out in 1868 on site of a notorious slum.
Parliament Square is dotted with statues of famous statesmen, the most notable being
Winston Churchill. A statue of Abraham Lincoln sits in front of the Middlesex
Guildhall , completed in 1913.
Other buildings around the square include Westminster Central Hall,
Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Westminster.
Opposite the Houses of Parliament, across Bridge Street towards
Westminster Bridge, stands the rather forbidding Portcullis House, completed in
2001. This houses government offices and Westminster
Underground (Tube) Station for Jubilee Line, Central and District Lines.
The square became Britain's first official roundabout in 1926 as well as the
site of the first traffic lights.
