THE PRESENT CHAMBER
Today's House of Commons was designed by Sir Giles 
Gilbert Scott and was opened in 1950, to replace the 
Victorian chamber which was destroyed by German 
bombing in 1941. At Winston Churchill's insistence, it is 
almost a replica of Charles Barry's 1852 design, though 
its decoration is less ornate, and larger galleries have been 
provided for visitors. The seating arrangements are virtually 
identical to those adopted when members first took up their 
seats in St Stephen's Chapel, over four hundred years before.