LONDON CALLING: Hungerford , Queen’s Jubilee & and Waterloo Bridges

Across the river, on the left, before the bridges:

The Royal Horseguards Hotel.

The next set of bridges along The Queen’s Walk is made of 3 structures: the Hungerford Railway Bridge (showing here in red bricks) and, running along it, two footbridges, one on each side (white cables). The two footbridges are called The Queen’s Jubilee Footbridges and were opened in 2002.

The first bridge here was Brunel’s 1845 Hungerford Suspension Footbridge.

In the early 1860s, it was removed to make way for a railway bridge to connect with the new Charing Cross Station (not the building we see now). The station was built where the Hungerford Market used to be and it was designed by the engineer John Hawkshaw – and so was the railway bridge.

The bridge, opened in 1864 and supported by wrought iron girders, was then called Charing Cross Bridge and was immortalised by Claude Monet in 1899 ^

It is still the bridge we see here today, usually called the Hungerford Railway Bridge. Over the years, walkways were added and removed along the railway bridge.

The Queen’s Jubilee Footbridges (also known as Golden Jubilee Bridges or Hungerford Footbridges) are literally attached to the railway bridge, since the cables are using the foundation piers under the railway bridge (steel collars fit around the pillars and the collars are attached to the railway bridge’s foundations by rods – see further down, photo taken under the bridge). Also, the supporting pylons, for the cables and rods, are tied to the buttresses from original Brunel’s Hungerford Suspension Footbridge.

Over 4 km of cables were used in the construction of the footbridges.

The design won Building of the Year.

Looking in the sun, from one of The Queen’s Jubilee Footbridges:
the London Eye, London Eye Millennium Pier, Westminster Bridge,
Westminster Palace partly wrapped in scaffolding, Portcullis House.

The South Bank is very busy on this stretch of walk as well. The area under the bridge is occupied by outdoor cafés and such.

Whereas, on the shore of The Thames, where there is a soft gravel beach, birds are feeding on eels.

Walking under the Hungerford Railway Bridge, looking west; some walkers are using one The Queen’s Jubilee Footbridges above. Some people are sunbathing on deck chairs near a restored 1960s double decker bus marked “SNOG.” The website recommends, “Get snogging on the upper deck; get snogging all over the place... snogging is good for you. A highly sensual experience. You never forget your first snog.” It seems to be a brand of frozen yoghurt…

Large buildings across the river (from left to right): the Adelphi (1938), next to it, with a clock face: Shell-Mex House (1931), then right above a white walkway to the Embankment Pier: the Savoy Hotel (1889) where Claude Monet stayed in 1901 and where he painted, from the balcony of room 618, at least 26 works in pastel (see further down) – his oils had been confiscated by the Customs… A week later, he was able to work with oil paints and complete some of his famous scenes around Westminster.

The Hungerford Railway Bridge leads directly into Charing Cross Station, which is the massive building on the north bank. It is also a shopping complex called The Embankment Place. It was completed in 1990 and it makes me think of the movie ‘Metropolis’ by Fritz Lang, but I doubt “Futurist” is the right description for its architecture… “Post Modern”?

Right below Shell-Mex House is Cleopatra’s Needle, an Egyptian obelisk (see below.)

Not owned by the petroleum companies Shell and BP anymore, the building is used by various ventures, including some publishing companies. The RAF was formed here in 1918. The façade is, in fact, all that remains of Hotel Cecil (1896), the largest hotel in Europe at the time with 800 rooms! “Wrenaissance” or Neo-Baroque in style. The Shell-Mex House is behind that and is Art Deco (1931). The clock is the biggest in London.

Cleopatra’s Needle was a gift from Egypt in 1819. 21 metres high, in red granite from Aswan, it stood at Heliopolis near today’s Cairo (in 1450 BC) – its twin obelisk is in Central Park, New York City. The inscriptions/hieroglyths were added by Ramses II, two centuries later. In 12 BC, the Romans moved it to Alexandria, into a temple built on the orders of Cleopatra. Though, it ended up laying buried in the sand for 2000 years. It was brought to London by boat and even caused a ship to capsize (the name of the six crew who lost their lives is on a plaque at the foot of the needle.) When placed in London in 1878, a time capsule was stored in the pedestal. There are shrapnel marks on the obelisk from a WWI bomb (1917.)

Architect George Vulliamy designed the two bronze sphinxes and pedestal for Cleopatra’s Needle. He is also the designer for some great ornate benches nearby, with large camel and sphinx heads, on this same north bank (Victoria Embankment, 1874, the riverside road from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge).

Anyone who grew up watching Flipper on TV

knows that dolphins can be a bit lippy…

Time to talk about the Dolphin Lamp posts which can be found all along the Thames embankment. They are not all identical, but they all feature two “stylised dolphins or sturgeons” around the base, and, at the top, a metal crown above an opaque white globe. They were also designed by the architect George Vulliamy in the 1870s. The original lamps used Yablochtov / electric candles, before being replaced by gas in the 1880s, and converted to electricity in 1900. Many Dolphin Lamps are listed. Some were added for the Silver Jubilee in 1977 but the dates on them vary greatly. (Not all lamp posts along the Thames are the Vulliamy’s design.)

This Vulliamy lamp post is marked EIIR (Elizabeth II Regina).

Looking eastward, one can spot Festival Pier and Waterloo Bridge.

The Southbank Centre is the “largest single-run arts centre in the world.” It contains 5 venues: Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Rooms, Hayward Gallery, Poetry Library. Over a thousand artists perform here each year (music, dance, literature, visual arts.)

Waterloo Bridge is a road bridge with footpaths. Built during 1942 and 1945, it is said that the workforce involved was mostly women.

It is the only bridge over the Thames to have been damaged during WWII.

The river, the view and life in the surrounding district is evoked in the song ‘Waterloo Sunset, by London band The Kinks.

The first bridge here was a 1817 nine-arched-granite-bridge and it was named after the victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

It had been painted by Claude Monet, repeatedly, but also by John Constable.

Michael Faraday had used the bridge in a study of magnetohydrodynamics in 1882.

After demolition, some of the granite blocks were presented as symbols to various parts of the British Commonwealth.

The elegant neoclassical building with a little dome, across the river, is Somerset House (1786 with added wings in the 19^th c.) The Thames used to flow underneath the building under some arches - one can be seen here in the centre of the façade, at pavement level, under the columns. Nowadays, the building is used by several institutions, such as the Royal Academy and it is also, partly, King’s College London. It is also a visual arts centre, the courtyard has been used for concerts, to show outdoor films, and is turned into an ice rink in wintertime.

A few facts about the history of Somerset House:

Somerset Place was first the location of a palace built by the Duke of Somerset (Edward Seymour, brother of Queen Jane Seymour, and Lord Protector under King Edward VI). When he was executed in 1552, the place became a royal residence and while Queen Mary I reigned, future Queen Elizabeth I lived here, though it was still undergoing a lot of improvement.

In the 17th century, Somerset House became the residence of Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I (reign: 1603-1625), who commissioned many changes (some designed by Inigo Jones) – it was then renamed Denmark House. In 1635, that same architect built a chapel for Henrietta Maria of France, Catholic and wife of King Charles I (reign: 1625-1649) – it was in the care of the Capuchin Order and some of the tombstones of the adjacent cemetery can still be seen in a wall, in a passage leading to the courtyard.

The English Civil War of 1649 meant that the building was nearly sold by Parliament, but it was in fact used as headquarters for Parliamentary Commander-in-Chief, General Fairfax and other dignitaries. Ironically, Oliver Cromwell’s body lay in state in Somerset House in 1658.

Queen Henrietta Maria returned in 1660 (Restoration of the monarchy) and a comprehensive reconstruction began, using Inigo Jones’s design for a new riverfront – though he had died in 1652, at Somerset House…

In 1685, it was refurbished by Sir Christopher Wren. The view from the terrace was painted twice by Canaletto (1697-1768) - looking upriver and down.

The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards Westminster,
by Canaletto (c1750)
Cleopatra's Needle can be seen, whereas Waterloo Bridge did not exist
The bridge here is the old 18^th century Westminster Bridge

Old Somerset House, by Canaletto (c1746-50)

The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City, by Canaletto
St Paul's Cathedral can be seen

Neglect led to Somerset House being demolished in 1775 and rebuilding started that year, but it took a long time to complete (maybe 40 years or so). The design was again based on Inigo Jones’s plan for the riverfront of the former house.

The view was painted in the 19th century by John Constable.

A South View of Somerset House, From Waterloo Bridge, by Rudolph Ackermann

(1817) displayed at the Museum of London.

Somerset House Terrace by John Constable (19th c.)

The Opening of Waterloo Bridge

‘Whitehall Stairs, June 18th, 1817’ by Constable.

One of Claude Monet’s versions of the first Waterloo Bridge, in pastel,

displayed in room 618 at The Savoy hotel, where it was created in 1901.

One of Claude Monet’s many version of Waterloo Bridge in oil paints (1903).

The Royal National Theatre is here, since 1976, in this listed building. The foyers are open to the public and include bookshop, cafés, exhibitions and free live music.

Since 2007, there is a life-sized statue of Lawrence Olivier outside the National Theatre. It was unveiled to commemorate the centenary of his birth.

Somehow, we only saw this bronze sculpture described as “Modernist, yet classicising” and called ‘London Pride.’ Designed by Frank Dobson, it was installed here in 1987, he had created it in 1951 for the Festival of Britain.