Building    From 1873 

Albert Bridge

Categories: Architecture

Designed and built by Rowland Mason Ordish, as an Ordish-Lefeuvre system modified cable-stayed bridge. It proved to be structurally unsound, so between 1884 and 1887 Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated some of the design elements of a suspension bridge. In 1973, two central concrete piers were added which transformed the middle span into a simple beam bridge. As a result, it is an unusual hybrid of three different design systems. It was opened as a toll bridge, but was commercially unsuccessful. The tollbooths are still in place, being the only surviving examples of such in London. Long before the problems with the Millennium Bridge, it was nicknamed 'The Trembling Lady' because of its tendency to vibrate when large numbers of people walked across it. At night it is illuminated by 4,000 LEDs (Light-Emitting Diodes).

The Franz-Josef Bridge in Prague, demolished 1941, was near identical. Ordish built that in 1868 during a lull in the designing of the Albert Bridge brought about by the simultaneous designing of the Chelsea Embankment.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Albert Bridge

Commemorated ati

Albert Bridge boundary markers

A pair of these markers is attached to each side of the bridge, with CP alway...

Read More

Albert Bridge - opened

The rope-framed roundel at the top carries the crest for the RBofK&C, and...

Read More

Albert Bridge - troops

In 1831 the Broughton Suspension Bridge collapsed as a troop of 74 men marche...

Read More

Other Subjects

Frank M. Harvey

Frank M. Harvey

The man on the 1905 plaque is probably not F. Milton Harvey who would have been only 29. Perhaps his father?

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Our Lady of the Assumption Deptford

Our Lady of the Assumption Deptford

Originally founded as a mission in 1842, it was built to serve the local Catholic community, many of whom had come from Ireland to work on the railways and in the shipyards. 

Building, Architecture, Religion

1 memorial
Newcastle House

Newcastle House

From the Picture Source website: In 1790, James Farrer bought the southern half of the fine building which we now occupy at 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields. This was originally the home of Lord Powys, whic...

Building, Architecture

1 memorial
35 St Martin's Street

35 St Martin's Street

Three storey terrace house. Lived in by Isaac Newton 1710 - 1725, although he owned it until his death in 1727. When it was demolished the panelling of the front parlour was reconstructed as the ...

Building, Architecture, Literature

1 memorial
William Henry Boney

William Henry Boney

Architect.  Also designed the Jackson's Lane Methodist church, Highgate and Little Stanmore Church.  Active 1889 and 1905. May 2015:  Andrew Behan has been beavering away in the archives on our be...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial