LONDON - TOWER BRIDGE

Sensational, vivid  colors, very characteristic two towers and a steel elements  spanning over the Thames River that draws the attention of  milions of tourists every year and have become the icon of

London and grade one listed structure- yes we are talking about the Tower Bridge in London designed in victorian gothic style.
The bridge was built in 19-th century as a new river crossing that was supposed to support existing bridges and river passages due to encreasing traffic and number of developments in London at that time.

There were over 50 proposals submitted for the architectural competition and the winner was a design put forward by Sir Horace Jones.

His architectural office proposed a structure called two leaf, combined bascule and suspension bridge - a type of movable bridge with counterwights that continuously balance the spans and allow the leaves to swing with the pivot located in the massive piers located at the bed of the river.

This type of construction allowed the tall masted ships to pass the structure and access the port.

The structure consisted of two towers and a steel platform between them at a higher level and originally it was powered by hydraulic system - nowadays it can be operated by three steam engines.



The entire construction was made of steel .We can see steel trusses for the decking , steel lines ,and spans, even the two towers commonly concidered to be masonary are steel structure cladded with the Cornish granite and portland stone tiles.


At first the structure was painted dark chocolate brown then it was re-painted red, white and blue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.


It has been always very strong point amongst the tourist attractions of that beautyfull city.
One of the towers houses the museum of the bridge that is open for vistors.



It has been always very strong point amongst the tourist attractions of that beautyfull city.
One of the towers houses the museum of the bridge that is open for vistors.



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