Behind the Scenes of Tower Bridge

This view is from the balcony of the Bridge’s north tower, looking onto the south bank of the River Thames where 19th century wharves and modern office blocks intermingle. The balcony overlooks the high-level pedestrian walkways which link the north and south towers.

From here you can see the High Victorian Gothic cladding of the Bridge, with its castle-like turrets and crenellations.

These walkways allowed pedestrians to cross the Bridge when it was open for shipping. However, as the Bridge opened so quickly (60 seconds), they were rarely used, closing to the public in 1910, and reopening as an exhibition in 1982.

Tower Bridge is clad in Portland stone and Cornish granite, with tiles of Welsh slate. Portland stone can be carved and is also relatively weather-resistant, allowing it to decoratively conceal and protect the Bridge’s inner structure of iron and steel.

Completed in 1873, Butler’s Wharf was once reputedly the largest tea warehouse in the world. Dozens of wharves lined this section of the Thames in the 19th century. Today the buildings have been converted into luxury shops, restaurants and residences.

The Shard was completed in 2012 and is one of the tallest buildings in Europe. Its design is inspired by the numerous church spires visible across London and also the masts of the sailing ships which use the River Thames.

Here you can see the internal structure of Tower Bridge, which really provides its structural strength. You can also see some of the people who built the Bridge—the architect, engineers, and construction workers. 

The architect of Tower Bridge was Horace Jones, and the chief engineer was John Wolfe Barry. Specialist engineers William Armstrong and William Arroll designed the engines and steel frame respectively. Building Tower Bridge involved hundreds of people with a vast range of skills.

These are the steel girders that give the bridge structural strength. They are held together by 14 million rivets, fitted by workers paid 1d (1/2 pence) per rivet. There are 12,000 tons of steel and 1,200 tons of iron in Tower Bridge.

Here you can see pictures of some of the many workers who built Tower Bridge. There were an average of 432 workers onsite at any time over the 8 years of construction.  

These are examples of the types of goods that ships were bringing to wharves in the Pool of London and also of the types of transport that used the Bridge when it first opened.  

This is Sir Horace Jones, the architect of Tower Bridge. Sadly, he died in 1887, while Tower Bridge was being built and so never saw it completed. His death was unrelated to the construction of the bridge.