The Tower

The modern, four-star 801-room Tower Hotel is situated on the banks of the River Thames, next to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and close to the city's financial district. The hotel is home to a fitness center, and on-site ...more

The Soho Hotel

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The Soho Hotel is a full service luxury hotel in the heart of London's Soho. The hotel comprises 85 bedrooms and suites, and 6 one and two bedroom apartments which have an alternative street entrance and private elevator ...more

Welcome to London! Tower Bridge Hotels offers the best rates on hotels near the Tower Bridge in London. All of our hotels have been inspected and rated by AAA and the Mobile Travel Guide, the authorities in hotel inspection. Book securely online for great rates on hotels near the Tower Bridge!

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Tower Bridge was completed in 1894, after eight years of construction. However, many people don't realize why it was even built in the first place, or why it is so different from London's other bridges.

Originally, London Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames. As London grew, some more bridges were added, but these were all to the west of London Bridge, since the area east of London Bridge had become a busy port. In the 19th century, the east end of London became so densely populated that public pressure mounted for a bridge to the east of London Bridge, as journeys for pedestrians and vehicles were being delayed literally by hours.

Finally in 1876, the City of London Corporation, who were responsible for that part of the Thames, decided that the problem could be put off no longer.

The big problem for the City of London Corporation was how to build a bridge downstream from London Bridge without disrupting river traffic activities. To get as many ideas as possible, the "Special Bridge or Subway Committee" was formed in 1876, and opened the design of the new crossing to public competition.

Over 50 designs were put forward for consideration, some of which you can see when you visit the Tower Bridge Exhibition. However, it wasn't until October 1884 that Horace Jones, the City Architect, in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry, offered the chosen design for Tower Bridge as a solution.

It took eight years, five major contractors and the relentless labour of 432 construction workers to build Tower Bridge.

Two massive piers had to be sunk into the river bed to support the construction, over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the Towers and Walkways. This was then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, both to protect the underlying steelwork and to give the Bridge a more pleasing appearance.

You can find out more about the building of Tower Bridge and the people involved in its construction when you visit The Tower Bridge Exhibition.

When it was built, Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever built ("bascule" comes from the French for "see-saw"). It was a hydraulically operated bridge, using steam to power the enormous pumping engines. The energy created was then stored in six massive accumulators so that, as soon as power was required to lift the Bridge, it was readily available. The accumulators fed the driving engines, which drove the bascules up and down. Despite the complexity of the system, the bascules only took about a minute to raise to their maximum 86 degrees.

Nowadays, the bascules are still operated by hydraulic power, but since 1976 they have been driven by oil and electricity rather than steam. The original pumping engines, accumulators and boilers are on show as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, and you can also see the current machinery and control cabins when you come on a "Behind The Scenes Tour".

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