Architectural drawing for elevation of the front to Old Palace Yard in the first scheme for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, ca. 1733, by William Kent (1685-1748).

Elevation of the front to Old Palace Yard in the First Scheme for the rebuilding of the House of Commons of 1733, omitting the colonnades shown in other early plans.

The rebuilding project was formally initiated by a resolution of the House of Commons on 14 March 1732-3. It appears that Burlington was closely associated with the original scheme and it may be that the initial impetus failed when he broke politically with Walpole later in 1733, although Kent himself remained in favour with Walpole and continued to be employed by him at Houghton.
The project was re-opened by the Treasury in April 1735 and in the following July Kent was appointed Master Mason and Deputy Surveyor. Designs related to that inititive exist but once again the scheme came to nothing, although expectation of imminent re-building continued. Eventually on 7 March 1738-9 the House passed another resolution, virtually identical to the original one of March 1732-3, and further revised designs were then submitted by Kent to the Office of Works. All hopes of progress ceased, however, through the outbreak of the war, initially with Spain in 1739 and then with the involvement of Britain in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1741. The successive pressures exerted by the lack of financial resources, changes of political administration and the young Pretender's invasion of England in 1745 ensured that the project was not to be revived again until the last decade of the century when Soane in 1794-5, provided a new scheme. Had any of Kent's schemes been implemented a pre-eminent monument to his genius and to the architectural style engendered by Burlington and himself would have been created in the centre of administrative London.
All the existing drawings for the Palace of Westminster have been fully discussed by Fiske Kimball in two articles published in the Journal of the R.I.B.A. on 6 August 1932 and 10 September 1932, entitled respectively 'William Kent's designs for the Houses of Parliament, 1730-40' and 'William Kent's designs for the Houses of Parliament, 1734-40. Second Instalment', and an unsigned contribution entitled 'Drawings by William Kent for the Houses of Parliament, 1739' (describing the contents of an album then recently deposited with the R.I.B.A.) which appeared in the R.I.B.A. Journal on 9 January 1939. Further comment on the schemes to which all these drawings relate is provided by H M Colvin in his section on 'Projects for the Parliament House' in the History of the Kings Works, Vol. V, 1660-1782, pp.416-425

The remaining seven or eight architectural drawings which may be confidently attributed to Kent include a grandiose project for a National Memorial Temple (or Pantheon), an early scheme for the Horse Guards, an elevation of the Temple, or Banqueting House, at Euston, a fantastic scheme for a gothick folly, an amusing light-hearted drawing for Kent's own kitchen premises, a design for an unidentified chimney-piece, and the design for the Board Room chimney-piece in the New Treasury building. Also shown with these is a drawing by Vardy of an element in Inigo Jones' scheme for Whitehall Palace made for an engraved plate in Kent's publication The Designs of Inigo Jones , 1727.

This is a design for the rebuilding project for the House of Commons that was was formally initiated by a resolution of the House of Commons on 14 March 1732-3. It appears that Burlington was closely associated with the original scheme and it may be that the initial impetus failed when he broke politically with Walpole later in 1733, although Kent himself remained in favour with Walpole and continued to be employed by him at Houghton. The project was re-opened by the Treasury in April 1735 and in the following July Kent was appointed Master Mason and Deputy Surveyor. Designs related to that inititive exist but once again the scheme came to nothing, although expectation of imminent re-building continued. Eventually on 7 March 1738-9 the House passed another resolution, virtually identical to the original one of March 1732-3, and further revised designs were then submitted by Kent to the Office of Works. All hopes of progress ceased, however, through the outbreak of the war, initially with Spain in 1739 and then with the involvement of Britain in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1741. The successive pressures exerted by the lack of financial resources, changes of political administration and the young Pretender's invasion of England in 1745 ensured that the project was not to be revived again until the last decade of the century when Soane in 1794-5, provided a new scheme.

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