The tower is founded on a 15m square raft, made of 3m thick concrete, at a depth of 4m below ground level. The first 61m of the structure is the Clock Tower, consisting of brickwork with stone cladding the remainder of the tower's height is a framed spire of cast iron. The design for the Clock Tower was Pugin's last design before his final descent into madness and death, and Pugin himself wrote, at the time of Barry's last visit to him to collect the drawings: "I never worked so hard in my life for Mr Barry for tomorrow I render all the designs for finishing his bell tower & it is beautiful." The tower is designed in Pugin's celebrated Gothic Revival style, and is 96.3m high. However, although Barry was the chief architect of the palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the clock tower, which resembles earlier Pugin designs, including one for Scarisbrick Hall.
The tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of 22 October 1834.
The Elizabeth Tower viewed from Westminster Bridge.
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