{"id":133477,"date":"2025-09-05T00:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/133477\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T00:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:19:06","slug":"londons-restored-big-ben-clocktower-is-up-for-a-top-architecture-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/133477\/","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":133478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[84117,230,966,228,226,227,84116,17809,229,88,793,965],"class_list":["post-133477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-84117","tag-architecture","tag-article","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-cultural-preservation","tag-decor","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}