The structure had two levels, with the Top House (i.e., the Legislative Council) meeting on the lower level and the Lower House (i.e., the House of Representatives) meeting on the upper level. Reed, pp. 58-67, 1955. The building was originally planned to have three floors but only two were constructed.
In 1765, the colony's first legislative assembly met in a room on the second floor of the old Royal Governor's mansion. This first assembly consisted mainly of wealthy landowners from the surrounding area who met on occasional days when there was business to be handled. It lasted only one year before being replaced by the present colonial legislature which is the origin of today's federal government in Virginia.
The current state house was built between 1772 and 1775 on the site of the former British army post at New London. It was originally known as "the new capitol" because it was meant to replace an earlier capitol that had been destroyed by fire. Today, it is more commonly referred to as the "Old State Capitol."
The state house has had six different presidents: Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, William Smith, Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore Roosevelt. It has also been the home of several governors during its history including John Clayton Eppes, Edmund Randolph, George Walker, Henry Lee III, and Mark Earley.
The Federal row home was small in scale and ornamented sparingly. This era's row homes were generally two and a half storeys tall, three bays wide, with a pitched roof with dormers and a raised basement of brick or brownstone block. The front entrance was often framed by a flat-roofed porch supported by Ionic or Doric columns. Window sizes were relatively large, usually eight to ten feet high by six feet wide. The interior woodwork was typically painted white.
The term "Federal" indicates that the house was built under the auspices of the United States Government. These houses were most commonly found in urban areas where there was a high demand for housing units. In fact, many cities had laws requiring certain percentages of their dwellings to be constructed as row houses. Generally, these houses were owned by non-profit organizations such as churches or charities, who were given land on which to build by local governments in exchange for building the required number of housing units.
Federal style houses began to appear around 1820. They are characteristically larger than early American row houses, with two and three story versions common. Also unlike early American row houses, which were usually built from locally available materials (brick or stone) with some wooden elements (doors, windows, etc.), Federal row houses are almost always made of brick or stone, with only the foundation and exterior walls being made of wood.
Parliament in our nation is divided into two houses. The two houses are referred to as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People, respectively (Lok Sabha). There are 765 members in Rajya Sabha and 533 members in Lok Sabha.
The number of seats in both houses of Parliament is determined by the Constitution of India. The total number of seats in Lok Sabha is 543 and that of Rajya Sabha is 495.
As per current estimates, about 1.5 million people are employed in the Parliament-related activities in India. This includes about 66,000 personnel working in the Parliament and its committees.
There are three parliamentary sessions every year. The first session starts on April 2nd and ends on May 26th, the second one begins on October 15th and ends on November 12th and the third one starts on January 10th and ends on February 6th.
Both Houses of Parliament sit in Westminster Hall in London but they have their own chambers in New Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.
Parliamentary privilege is a constitutional right which allows members of Parliament to not testify against other members in court cases. It also prevents the government from forcing MPs to give evidence against each other or anyone else.
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