Official Heritage Listing Information and Findings
Listed At: Grade II*
Discussion:
List Entry Number: 1358138
Summary
Road bridge.
1871-73 to designs by Rowland Mason Ordish. Modified and strengthened by
Sir Joseph Bazalgette 1884-87. Restored and central pier added 1972-73,
and refurbished in 2010-11.
Reasons for Designation
Albert
Bridge, 1871-73, to the designs of Rowland Mason Ordish, modified by Sir
Joseph Bazalgette in 1884-87, is listed at Grade II*, for the following
principal reasons: *Architectural interest: a highly elegant bridge with
stately Gothic embellishment, designed by a leading C19 engineer;
*Historic interest: a historically important central London road bridge,
which along with Tower Bridge (opened 1894), has not been replaced;
*Engineering innovation: an innovative design at the time combining the
properties of both suspension and cable-stayed bridges; *Group value:
the bridge forms an integral part of the Grade II listed Chelsea
Embankment and enhances the views of Battersea Park (Grade II*
Registered Park and Garden) on the opposite side of the river.
History
The Albert Bridge Company was set up in 1863 to build a
bridge between Chelsea and Battersea since, despite the presence of the
timber Battersea Bridge which opened in 1771 and the more recent Chelsea
Bridge opened in 1858, communications between the two suburbs was
considered poor. The company applied to Parliament for the necessary act
to build a toll bridge but this was originally rejected, possibly
following lobbying by the Battersea Bridge Company which feared a loss
of toll revenue. As a result of an agreement to compensate the
proprietors of Battersea Bridge, which the Albert Bridge Company
eventually purchased outright in 1873, the Act for construction of the
Albert Bridge was obtained in 1864. Designs for the new bridge were
drawn up by the engineer, Rowland Mason Ordish of Messrs Ordish and Le
Feuvre but construction was delayed by the plans of the Metropolitan
Board of Works for an embankment on the north side of the river. Ordish
meanwhile had constructed a bridge using the same patent system, the
Franz Josef Bridge in Prague, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now capital of
the Czech Republic) between 1865 and 1868. Work on the Albert Bridge
eventually began in 1871, supervised by the engineer F W Bryant. The
iron and steel work was supplied by the Britannia Ironworks of Derby.
The bridge was finally opened to traffic on 23 August 1873.
The
design of the bridge was an innovative combination of a suspension
bridge, where the deck is supported by vertical hangers suspended from
catenary chains hung between pairs of towers, and a cable-stayed bridge,
where the support of the deck comes from inclined stays fanning out from
the top of the tower, providing greater rigidity. Albert Bridge had
light suspension cables of wire steel rope which took the weight of the
16 flat wrought-iron diagonal stays which supported the deck. The ornate
cast-iron towers rose from four piers, consisting of one-piece tapering
cast-iron cylinders filled with masonry and concrete. At the time these
were the largest cylindrical iron castings ever made, each weighing 10
tons, and were only possible because they could be floated down river
from the foundry at Battersea.
After opening the bridge failed to
make profits from the tolls charged. In 1879 it was taken over by the
Metropolitan Board of Works and, after the owners were paid
compensation, freed, along with Battersea Bridge, from tolls. Between
1884 and 1887 the bridge was strengthened by Sir Joseph Bazalgette when
the original steel cables, which were rusting, were replaced by steel
link chains (as Ordish had originally specified before being overruled
by the owners on grounds of cost) and a new timber deck was laid. Both
before and after the Second World War, the bridge was threatened with
demolition due to structural problems but was eventually saved after a
public campaign in 1957 involving Sir John Betjeman. He described the
bridge as 'shining with electric lights, grey and airy against the
London sky, it is one of the beauties of the London river'. The lights
were originally added in 1951 for the Festival of Britain. In 1972-3
extensive strengthening work was carried out. This included the
installation of two additional circular piers connected by a transverse
steel beam beneath the middle of the bridge. The decking was again
renewed. In 2010-11 the bridge was refurbished and repainted with the
decking again replaced. The pairs of tollbooths at either end of the
bridge were also refurbished.
Rowland Mason Ordish (1824-1886)
was born in Derbyshire, son of a land agent and surveyor. Originally a
draughtsman, in 1850 he worked in that capacity for Sir Charles Fox on
the Hyde Park Exhibition building, and later on its subsequent
relocation to Sydenham as the Crystal Palace. Ordish went on to
collaborate as engineer on some of the major Victorian architectural and
engineering projects including: the Winter Garden for the 1865 Dublin
Exhibition (later re-erected in Battersea as the Albert Palace before
being demolished in 1894); the Farringdon Street Bridge, Holborn Viaduct
(1863-9); St Pancras Station train shed roof (1866-68); Westminster
Abbey Chapter House roof (1866-72) and the roof of the Royal Albert Hall
(1867-71).
Details
Road bridge over the River Thames, 1871-73
to designs by Rowland Mason Ordish. Strengthened in 1884-87 by Sir
Joseph Bazalgette with subsequent strengthening and refurbishment in
1972-73 and 2010-11.
STRUCTURE AND MATERIALS: three-span,
combined suspension and cable-stayed bridge. Four cylindrical cast-iron
piers support paired cast-iron towers, placed outside the roadway, and
connected at the top by a girder and arch. Suspension cables of steel
link chains (originally wire steel rope) take the weight of the 16 flat
wrought-iron diagonal stays which support the deck via steel tie-rods.
The timber decking rests on an iron superstructure.
DESCRIPTION:
the elaborate Gothic style towers consist of a central cast-iron
cylinder set on a base, with an eight-point star plan, resting on the
piers and level with the bridge's cast-iron parapet. Each cylinder is
surrounded by eight colonnettes. The tower is capped by a lantern,
containing the housing for the suspension cable, and topped by a finial.
The girder connecting the pairs of towers has ornamental cresting with a
central finial. The spandrels of the arch below the beam have floriated
tracery decoration. The panels of the cast-iron parapet of the bridge
each bear open roundels with similar tracery decoration. Bronze plaques
at either end of the bridge state that it opened in 1874 (despite
actually opening to traffic in 1873). The bridge is 241m long with a
central span of 139m and is 12m wide.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: at the
ends of the bridge, adjoining the parapet, are the four original
tollbooths, one on either side of the roadway. These pavilion-like
buildings are octagonal in plan with timber panelled sides with engaged
octagonal cast-iron columns with dog-tooth capitals. The overhanging
octagonal leaded roofs have cast-iron brackets supporting the eaves with
the same floriate design as the metalwork on the bridge itself. Covering
the hatch for collecting tolls are modern signs instructing that 'All
troops must break step when marching over this bridge'. At the northern
end of the bridge the roadway is extended as a bridge supported on iron
superstructure over the footpath of the embankment. This has staircases
on either side with a cast-iron balustrade terminating with cast-iron
piers matching the parapet of the bridge itself. There are 16 octagonal
cast-iron (originally) gas lamp standards along the length of the bridge
with dog-tooth mouldings and crown finials to the lamps. The asset was
previously listed twice also under the District of Wandsworth at List
entry 1065576. This entry was removed from the List on 16 June 2016.
Sources
Books and journals
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N , The
Buildings of England, London 2: South, (1983), 714
Croad, S, Londons
Bridges, (1983)
Harwood, , Saint, , Exploring England's Heritage
London, (1991), 239-40
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