As We Visited Tower Bridge On Tuesday,

I thought I would make a post about it today,

photographs London Stereoscopic Company / Wiki Commons / The Tower Bridge Organisation, 

opened on 30 June 1894, the bridge quickly became known as the ‘Wonder Bridge’, a special committee was formed in 1876 to come up with ways to address the problem of traffic which was getting bogged down. One of the ideas was for a new bridge, and several architects submitted dozens of designs, but the project was delayed for eight long years, 

the special committee was unable to agree on a singular vision until the City Architect, Sir Horace Jones submitted a design that was deemed appropriate. Together with the help of another architect by the name of John Wolfe Barry they conceptualized Tower Bridge in the form we know today,

an Act of Parliament authorizing construction was passed in 1885. It specified the opening span must give a clear width of 200 feet (61 m) and a headroom of 135 feet (41 m), and construction had to be in a Gothic style, 

construction started in 1886, with the foundation stone laid by the Prince of Wales on 21 June, and took eight years. Major contractors included Sir John Jackson (foundations), Armstrong, Mitchell, and Company (hydraulics), William Webster, and Sir William Arrol & Co. 432 people worked on the site each day,

for the technical, two piers, containing over 70,000 long tons (78,400 short tons; 71,123 t) of concrete, were sunk into the riverbed to support the construction. More than 11,000 long tons (12,320 short tons; 11,177 t) of steel were used in the framework for the towers and walkways, which were then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone to protect the underlying steelwork, Tower Bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince and Princess of Wales,

Tower Bridge during the first mass air raid on London, 7 September 1940, thankfully it survived the war,

and here it is today, well Tuesday! as an aside I made a post about the cost of raising the bridge here, this from my post if you have not seen it:

to get Tower Bridge to open at your command, say just for you and your love, think of the chaos when it opens, all traffic stops including buses and of course taxis have to re-route, not to mention private cars and pedestrians having to find another way across the river, or face the delay, but what about the financial cost to you, to open the bridge and let you pass underneath for one of the 700 - to 1,000 times a year it opens? so here it is, how much do you think it will cost you to open the bridge just for you, your love and your boat? £50, £500, maybe £1,000 what do you think the charge will be? scroll down for the answer,

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it will cost you absolutely nothing, totally free, all you have to do is make sure your vessel is more than nine meters (30ft) tall and that you give written notice at least 24 hours in advance, additionally any changes in arrival or sailing times must be communicated as soon as possible, the Bridge House Estates, a 700-year-old organisation, is responsible for the upkeep of five major bridges in Central London - Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge and most recently Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge even has a list of all the vessels it needs to open for including details of the date, time and direction of the specific boat, all I need now is a boat!