{"id":120791,"date":"2025-09-05T02:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T02:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/120791\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T02:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T02:27:12","slug":"londons-restored-big-ben-clocktower-is-up-for-a-top-architecture-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/120791\/","title":{"rendered":"London’s restored Big Ben clocktower is up for a top architecture prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — A facelift that restored London\u2019s 166-year-old Big Ben<\/a> clocktower to a sparkling shine was nominated Thursday for Britain\u2019s leading architecture award.<\/p>\n

The RIBA Stirling Prize committee said the five-year refurbishment of the tower at Parliament is \u201ca veritable masterclass in conservation and craftsmanship\u201d that preserves a \u201cdefining symbol of British heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 96-meter (316-foot) structure, formally known as the Elizabeth Tower, houses Big Ben, the giant bell whose bong has sounded the hours since 1859.<\/p>\n

It fell silent in 2017<\/a> when the tower was covered in scaffolding for repairs. The original cost estimate of 29 million pounds ($39 million) more than doubled, but the renovation unveiled in 2022 has been widely praised.<\/p>\n

As well as repairing the corroded cast-iron roof and damaged stonework, craftspeople returned the clock to its original blue and gold color scheme after decades of being painted black.<\/p>\n

The repair work used traditional materials and skills in stonemasonry, gilding, glass cutting and clockmaking, though some modernizations were made, including replacing lightbulbs behind each clock face with energy-efficient LED bulbs. Workers also installed an elevator as an alternative to the 334 steps up to the belfry.<\/p>\n

The Stirling Prize, organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects, usually goes to a new building, though last year\u2019s winner was a railway project, London\u2019s Elizabeth Line.<\/p>\n

Other contenders this year include pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca\u2019s new Discovery Center in Cambridge, the London College of Fashion in east London and three housing developments.<\/p>\n

The winner will be announced Oct. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — A facelift that restored London\u2019s 166-year-old Big Ben clocktower to a sparkling shine was nominated Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[67158,357,1331,76,354,355,49,48,67156,67157,356,75,2841,883],"class_list":{"0":"post-120791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-67158","9":"tag-architecture","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-arts","12":"tag-arts-and-design","13":"tag-artsanddesign","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-cultural-preservation","17":"tag-decor","18":"tag-design","19":"tag-entertainment","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}