Nocturnal Tower Bridge
This long exposure of the Bridge has the curtain wall of the Tower visible below the roadway, with the Leadenhall Building and Gherkin framed by the towers, roadway and walkway.
The Grade I listed structure is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in Tower Hamlets. The bridge is 244m in length with two towers each 65m high, built on piers. The central span of 61m between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83° to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules weigh over 1,000 tons each and are counterbalanced to minimise the force required, allowing raising in five minutes. The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in several hydraulic accumulators.
In May 1997, the motorcade of US President Bill Clinton was divided by the opening of the bridge. The Thames sailing barge Gladys, on her way to a gathering at St Katharine Docks, arrived on schedule and the bridge was opened for her. Returning from a Thames-side lunch at Le Pont de la Tour restaurant with Tony Blair, Clinton was less punctual and arrived just as the bridge was rising. The bridge opening split the motorcade in two, much to the consternation of the security detail!
122 Leadenhall Street, or the Leadenhall Building, is a 225m tall building. The commercial skyscraper, opened in July 2014, was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and is informally known as The Cheesegrater because of its distinctive wedge shape.
30 St Mary Axe (informally known as The Gherkin) is a commercial skyscraper in the City of London. It opened in April 2004. It is 180m tall and stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 by a PIRA bomb placed in St Mary Axe, the street from which the tower takes its name. The building has become a recognisable feature of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of contemporary architecture.
Nocturnal Tower Bridge
This long exposure of the Bridge has the curtain wall of the Tower visible below the roadway, with the Leadenhall Building and Gherkin framed by the towers, roadway and walkway.
The Grade I listed structure is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in Tower Hamlets. The bridge is 244m in length with two towers each 65m high, built on piers. The central span of 61m between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83° to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules weigh over 1,000 tons each and are counterbalanced to minimise the force required, allowing raising in five minutes. The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in several hydraulic accumulators.
In May 1997, the motorcade of US President Bill Clinton was divided by the opening of the bridge. The Thames sailing barge Gladys, on her way to a gathering at St Katharine Docks, arrived on schedule and the bridge was opened for her. Returning from a Thames-side lunch at Le Pont de la Tour restaurant with Tony Blair, Clinton was less punctual and arrived just as the bridge was rising. The bridge opening split the motorcade in two, much to the consternation of the security detail!
122 Leadenhall Street, or the Leadenhall Building, is a 225m tall building. The commercial skyscraper, opened in July 2014, was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and is informally known as The Cheesegrater because of its distinctive wedge shape.
30 St Mary Axe (informally known as The Gherkin) is a commercial skyscraper in the City of London. It opened in April 2004. It is 180m tall and stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 by a PIRA bomb placed in St Mary Axe, the street from which the tower takes its name. The building has become a recognisable feature of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of contemporary architecture.