Leonard Bentley
Victoria Embankment
This is a Stengel & Co undivided back postcard colourised and printed in Prussia. The photograph dates from the early 1890s and the postcard was posted in July 1903. It shows the view from Hungerford Bridge looking downstream and includes Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle, Charing Cross Pier, The Cecil Hotel, The Savoy Hotel, Somerset House and the old Waterloo Bridge. The paddle steamer belongs to the Victoria Steamboat Association but I am unable to identify her. Also shown is the Cleopatra swimming pool. The floating swimming pool was originally moored just upstream of Hungerford Bridge and opened in 1875, the swimming pool company went out of business in 1885 and the pool was abandoned in the Surrey docks for several years. In 1890 or thereabouts the pool was renovated by its new owners and towed to the position shown just downstream of Hungerford Bridge. This incarnation lasted for about 18 months and in September 1892 it was sold by auction and scrapped.
Victoria Embankment
This is a Stengel & Co undivided back postcard colourised and printed in Prussia. The photograph dates from the early 1890s and the postcard was posted in July 1903. It shows the view from Hungerford Bridge looking downstream and includes Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle, Charing Cross Pier, The Cecil Hotel, The Savoy Hotel, Somerset House and the old Waterloo Bridge. The paddle steamer belongs to the Victoria Steamboat Association but I am unable to identify her. Also shown is the Cleopatra swimming pool. The floating swimming pool was originally moored just upstream of Hungerford Bridge and opened in 1875, the swimming pool company went out of business in 1885 and the pool was abandoned in the Surrey docks for several years. In 1890 or thereabouts the pool was renovated by its new owners and towed to the position shown just downstream of Hungerford Bridge. This incarnation lasted for about 18 months and in September 1892 it was sold by auction and scrapped.