Gallery Of 68 Competitive Designs For The Great Tower For London, 1890 – Design You Trust

Gallery Of 68 Competitive Designs For The Great Tower For London, 1890

The year previous, 1889, saw the hugely successful Eiffel Tower go up in the centre of Paris, and the good people of London, not to be outdone, decided to get one of their own. A wonderful array of designs were put forward.

h/t: vintag.es

Many were suspiciously similar to the Eiffel Tower and many erred on the wackier side of things, such as Design no.19, the “Century Tower”, reminiscent of a huge screw, and London Vegetarian Society’s design for an “aerial colony” which came complete with hanging vegetable gardens a one-twelfth scale replica of the Great Pyramid on its summit.

The very practical design number 37 by Stewart, McLaren and Dunn was eventually chosen to be awarded the 500 guinea prize-money and built in Wembley Park. Construction began in 1892 but the company in charge of the erection, The Metropolitan Tower Company, soon ran into problems including falling chronically behind schedule due to marshy ground and then financial difficulties which eventually led to their liquidation in 1889.

Construction ceased after only 47 meters had been completed. The abandoned ‘tower’ (known as the Watkins Folly, or The London Stump) remained a spectacle in the park for a number of years before being deemed unsafe and blown up in 1904.

Wembley Stadium ended up being built over the site for the 1923 British Empire Exhibition. When the stadium was rebuilt in 2000, the lowering of the level of the pitch resulted in the concrete foundations of the failed tower being rediscovered.































































If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Design You Trust Facebook page. You won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

The RoAcH CoAcH: How the Designer Imagined the Cars of The Future from The 1970s
Beautiful Pics Of Madonna Photographed In Alphabet City, NYC By Richard Corman In 1982
"Jane Asher’s Fancy Dress": Over 100 Costumes for Children and Adults and How to Make Them, 1983
Fascinating Photographs of Old Shopfronts Taken in the East End of London in 1988
The Very Rare 1980 4-Door Chevrolet Corvette
The Cube Project
The Rooms At This Hotel Are Inside Airstream Trailers On The Roof Of The Building
How Remote Russian Places Would Look Like If They Had A Bit More Care
Fifteen Young Women About to Break the World Record for Passengers in a Mini, 1966
Cut-Out Ink And Pen Illustrations Of London’s Oldest Pubs And Other Landmarks By Maxwell Tilse
Colorful Lines, Inspired By The London Underground, Will Lead You To Classrooms At This Language School
Exquisite Photos Showcasing the Ferrari 410 Superamerica Ghia
Asymmetric Nature Houses Along The Danish Archipelago By LUMO Architects
Matra Sports Jet: The French Sports Car Gifted to Yuri Gagarin
Photographer Celine Liu Photoshops Herself In Images Of Celebrities Found On The Internet
The New Apple Store In Thailand Looks Like A Vortex Of Wood
Symbiosis Of Retro And Modernity: Russian Car By Bilenkin Vintage
Magical Lantern Festival In London
Stunning Color Photos Of Swinging London In The 60s
Beautiful Photos of Swedish High Jumper Gunhild Larking at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne
Beautiful Photos Show Fashion Styles of Cheryl Ladd in the 1970s
Arnold Genthe’s Cats : Women Posing With ‘Buzzer’ From A Century Ago
The Futuristic World as Envisioned by Echte Wagner Advertising Cards, 1930
Perfectly Camouflaged Log Cabin by Hans Linberg Looks Like a Pile of Firewood