View allAll Photos Tagged VictoriaEmbankment
This is a Raphael Tuck & Sons “Glosso” postcard showing Victoria Embankment looking east from Cleopatra’s Needle. The needle itself is out of sight on the right, it is flanked by two bronze sphinxes. The needle was installed in late 1878 after an eventful journey from Egypt, the sphinxes, bronze tablets and bronze surround were designed and sculpted by the Architectural firm of C.H. & J. Mabey who had offices in Storey’s Gate. The casting of the bronze sphinxes etc was undertaken by the firm of H. Young & Son at the Eccleston Ironworks in Pimlico. The sphinxes were placed on turntables and were originally placed with the head facing away from the needle, when the sphinxes, each weighing seven tons were installed in late 1881, the heads faced towards the needle. The “mistake” was noticed straight away but it was explained that if the heads faced away from the needle the whole structure would not form an equilateral triangle, I don’t understand it either, but the sphinxes remain the wrong way round to this day. The photograph, which has captured a Bow Street Police Constable dates from between 1903 and 1905.
The aftermath of a Tram leaving the track whilst negotiating the curve coming off Westminster Bridge and entering Victoria Embankment. I think there are one or two Cannon Row PCs at the scene, New Scotland Yard looms in the background. The date is probably post WW2, the last Trams ran on this track in July 1952.
Immediately after meeting a school friend from long, long ago who is now the Member of Parliament for Cleethorpes, I had a chance encounter with another friend, a classic London bus. Now in the care of the Newman family (former proprietors of EnsignBus), RTL453 (KLB648) looked splendid as it passed the Victoria Embankment before taking up a private hire duty.
By chance, I was passing the very spot where my father parked the family car on my first-ever visit to London, aged 15 in August 1965. I recall the thrill I felt when I first stepped out, seeing Big Ben and hearing its sonorous chimes, and hearing a departing train rumble over the nearby Hungerford Viaduct.
On that first brief visit, we explored London by bus. Most of our rides were on RTL-type buses, rather than the more prevalent RTs. I resolved there and then to pursue my fortune in London as soon as I possibly could - fulfilling that dream from 1972 to 2016. London Transport buses were that catalyst.
Police Constable 649 'A' Tony Phillips, Victoria Embankment, opposite Scotland Yard, London, Circa Mid 1960's. Constable Phillips was attached to one of London's more famous police stations, Cannon Row (AD), 'Alpha Delta'.
This picture exemplifies the standards of dress and overall public expectations required of a London police officer during this period.
Note, no guns or weighted down equipment belts, kevlar jackets, stab proof vests, machine guns or tasers that we see carried by today's police officers. How times have changed!
The Metropolitan Police policy in those days was to post officers over 6 feet tall to Cannon Row Police Station from training school as the station covered a major London tourist area including, Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Clarence House, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) etc. Cannon Row Police Station was the Headquarters of the Metropolitan Police's 'A' or Whitehall Division.
For pictures and information of everyday life at Cannon Row (AD) visit:
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To view a superb video image of London life circa 1930 including Police Officers attached to Cannon Row Police Station (AD) directing traffic at Parliament Square j/w Whitehall & Bridge Street j/w Victoria Embankment, London SW1 click on this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui63-Zjbcvo
Z. D. Berry & Son, Regent Street Westminster is stamped on the base of this handsome cast iron bench. Installed in 1874. The camels follow the Egyptian theme of sphinx benches and Cleopatra's Needle further along the Embankment in the City of Westminster. The camels are in the City of London. They were restored in 2008.
Five Seats on Riverside Pavement Opposite Temple Gardens. Grade II listed. Late 19th century Cast iron supports with figures of crouching camels. Wooden slats.
All along Victoria and Albert Embankments are beautiful Sturgeon Lamp Standards .The lamps were designed by George John Vulliamy in 1870. The lamps on Victoria Embankment are original but the lamps on Albert Embankment are replicas which were installed to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.
This is a Magic Lantern Slide showing the preparations in Parliament Square for V-Day which took place on Saturday 8th June 1946. The view is looking east from the middle of Parliament Square, from the left is Bridge Street, the entrance to Westminster Underground Station and St. Stephen’s Club on the corner with Victoria Embankment, the roof line of County Hall can be seen on the south bank of the River Thames; the statue of Viscount Palmerston was removed from the east side to the west side during the 1950 re-modelling of the square. On the right is the Palace of Westminster and the base of the clock tower. The structure being built is a street decoration for the V-Day march past of contingents from all the nations which fought on the allied side during WW2. I can only describe it as the S.H.A.E.F Tower, a tribute to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force headed by General Eisenhower and staffed by senior Military Officers from the allied powers. This is probably late May or early June and the finished tower would have large depictions of the SHAEF emblem which was worn as a shoulder patch by its members, between the columns of the tower. The emblem (see below) consisted of a Gold flaming Crusader’s sword on a black background which represented the Nazi occupation of Europe and above five narrow bands of colour which represented all the colours on the flags of all allied nations, it was topped by a broad band of blue which represented future Peace and Tranquillity. SHAEF was disbanded in July 1945 and replaced by USFET, United States Forces European Theatre, then in 1948 by WUDO, Western Union Defence Organisation, then in 1951 after the NATO treaty was signed in 1949, SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Needless to say, the Soviet dominated countries which were previously allies were not members. I did say that the march past consisted of contingents from all allied powers, this is not strictly true, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Poland did not send contingents and the large Polish population of the UK did not either. The day was marred by the absence of a contingent from the free Polish forces which was the fourth largest contributor in terms of manpower to the allied cause. In 1945 the new Labour Government had recognised the Soviet puppet regime in Poland as the legitimate Government of Poland and not the Government in exile which had been based in London throughout the war. In April 1946 the Labour Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin sent a letter to all the Poles still living in the UK urging them to return to Poland, he didn’t get many takers for obvious reasons. There was an outcry in Parliament regarding the situation and a group of Polish pilots who had fought in the Battle of Britain were invited to take part in the march past, they declined because of the existing invitation to the Government of Poland, so in the end no Pole took part. This has been a running sore in the Polish community ever since and it was only in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe that a free Polish contingent took the lead in the march past down the Mall after the Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair had apologised to the Polish community for a previous Labour Government’s omission. The march past in 1946 also ended up in the Mall at the saluting base opposite Marlborough Road where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took the salute.
New in December 1973 and entering service the same month, this was the very first Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R for Nottingham City Transport, previously purchased being the PDR/1 examples.
Bodied by East Lancashire Coachbuilders, in Blackburn to a capacity of 47 upstairs and 30 downstairs with a dual door layout, it was one of a batch of 45 vehicles which entered service on the OTO---M registrations throughout 1973/4.
With the exception of the first few months of its service life, the bus operated almost exclusively on West Bridgford routes from the Trent Bridge depot.
The bus was withdrawn from operations in May 1988 when a number of brand new E-reg Volvo Citybuses entered service, only to be stored at Bulwell depot, then relicensed in the end of the summer for one more winter of service.
In 1989, Confidence in Leicester took the bus on for private hire work and school runs, proving to be a reliable workhorse for them for well over a decade!!
This was the first Nottingham vehicle Nottingham Heritage Vehicles acquired for preservation, whilst under their original Notts & Derby Heritage Transport Group banner in December 2000.
Restoration works commenced in 2004, with most of the framework and outer panels replaced, brake actuators replaced, wheelarches reskinned and painted, mud flaps fitted, bonnet hood exchanged for new, the corner units removed and refitted, a new exhaust system fitted, replacement air tanks, a refurbished motor and new batteries!!
The bus was then rubbed down to bare metal late in 2004, before being repainted in 2005, the bus finally repainted by that September.
The interior was then looked at, with all seats being reupholstered, and seats frames cleaned.
And here's the result....!! Hard to think this Atlantean is approaching 42 years old.
540 basks in the sunshine at Nottingham City Council's Riverside Festival with a number of people having a nosey inside and out the vehicle, the parents probably remembering these in service back in the day.
This is a found Kodachrome slide dated April 1972. It shows an AEC Regent bus turning into Horse Guards Avenue from Victoria Embankment en route to pick up more sightseers on the sightseeing No. 100 route in the Avenue outside the Ministry of Defence.
ST922 is the sole survivor of a Tilling ST with open staircase and entered service with Thomas Tilling, a prolific south London operator, in November 1930. The bus was taken into London Transport stock with the formation of that company in 1933. Later it was kept at Tunbridge Wells garage as a “Guard Room” from August-December 1940, and then sent on loan to the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Co, Smethwick from December 1941 to November 1944. On return to London, it stayed in service until the end of 1946. In early 1947, it was then converted into a mobile staff canteen, serving as fleet number 693 J, until withdrawal in November 1954. Disposal was to British Road Services in May 1955, passing to a dealer, until purchased by Mr P Marshall for restoration in December 1966. It eventually returned to London service, on sight seeing route 100 in the early 1970s. It was re-certified for passenger service to run for London Transport on daily seasonal sightseeing duties. Even more remarkable was the extremely high level of reliability of ST 922 during its “summer seasons” when operating generally for around 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The bus now resides at Cobham Hall bus museum.
The home of the City of London School from 1882 to 1986.
This Victoria Embankment building, overlooking the River Thames at Blackfriars, a grand building said to be in the Italian Renaissance style but actually in a high Victorian style with a steep pitched roof resembling that of a French chateau, was designed by Davis and Emanuel and constructed by John Mowlem & Co at a cost exceeding £100,000 (over £9,350,000 in 2015). The designers designed the school as "amazingly unscholastic, rather like a permanent Exhibition Palace."
On the front of the building are statues of Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Newton and Sir Thomas More with "the first four emphasising the school's literary and scientific traditions [and] the last being a religious martyr, a famous lawyer and the author of Utopia."
The building remained the home of the school for 100 years, although the site expanded to include not only the original building (above) itself, but a range of buildings at right angles along the whole of John Carpenter Street (to the left of shot), which was named after the founder of the school, and further buildings constructed at the back along Tudor Street, with the school playground, Fives courts and cloisters enclosed within the site. These other buildings were demolished when the school moved to its present site in 1986.
Here the school was adjacent to the City of London School for Girls, which was founded by the City of London Corporation as a sister school in 1894 and moved in 1969 to its present site in the Barbican, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama which has also since moved to the Barbican. It was also next to the traditional home of the British newspaper industry in Fleet Street.
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest. It is presently occupied by the investment bank JPMorgan and it appeared on the left of the famous Thames Television ident for 20 years from 1968 to 1989. The building still features the school's name above the door.
Former pupils (Old Citizens) who have attained eminence in various fields are Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, the Reverend Theodore Bayley Hardy, VC DSO MC, Nobel Prize–winning scientist Peter Higgs, former England cricket captain Mike Brearley and Booker Prize-winning authors Kingsley Amis and Julian Barnes.
View from the London Eye, South Bank of the Thames river. Standpoint close to Waterloo Railroad Station.
Victoria Embankment, London.
The lines on this photo don't lead anywhere but maybe that is why I like it, it is an observation of connection or rather the lack thereof. London is a fascinating place but crazy, strange, lonely. These days many people jog in their lunch hour, that's okay, good for them, but in London especially along the embankment they do it with a kinda fury, oblivious to whoever else is passing, ducking and diving in between folks, on an urgent mission like streams of lemmings. More than once in the short time it took me to walk between two bridges I was bumped into, twirled around and nearly knocked to the ground. No sorry or even an acknowledgment that I exist. Then I came across an opposite set of people like the ones in this photo, equally oblivious but quiet, still, engrossed, switched into an alternative ether via their cell phones. A sad reflection on modern city life. What do you think?
This is a W. H. Smith postcard in their Kingsway Real Photo series showing the scene looking north towards the Victoria Embankment from the south bank with from the left, The Adelphi, The Hotel Cecil, The Savoy Hotel and the Medical Examination Hall. Travelling upstream in line with Cleopatra’s needle is a paddle steamer belonging to the City Steamboat Company operating a former London County Council paddle steamer. In the foreground are a number of dumb barges and another two paddle steamers in City livery also formerly LCC paddle steamers, the boat on the left nearest the camera is a screw driven steamer also belonging to the City Steamboat Company. When the ill fated LCC river bus service was wound up in 1907 several of the boats were moored at this location between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge until they were all sold by auction in 1909. Twelve of the thirty boats were bought by the City Steamboat Company and used on the Thames, some were sold on and that was the fate of “PS Raleigh” which is the paddle steamer on the right, it was sold to a company in Belgium. When the boats were built, they cost the LCC £6000.00 each, the “Raleigh” was sold to the City Company for £393.00, they probably made a profit when they sold it on. This is probably 1910 or 1911. The Adelphi and The Hotel Cecil were demolished in the early 1930s, The Adelphi was replaced by The New Adelphi which is an Art Deco building and the Hotel Cecil was replaced by Shell Mex House which is also Art Deco. The Savoy Hotel and the Medical Examination Hall still stand but the Hall has been given a new façade and is no longer recognisable as the same building.
The River Thames | Victoria Embankment | London
The River Thames, London from Victoria Embankment on the lunchtime of Wednesday 26-03-2025.
Another of Monday nights images from my walk along the Trent. The distinctive Trent Bridge as seen from the Embankment and in the distance, Eastcroft Incinerators smoke plume.
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Aerial from airplane window - best viewed in large; can even make out Trafalgar Studios by the pink signs on Whitehall
The Battle of Britain Monument overlooks the River Thames in central London. It pays tribute to those who took part in the Battle of Britain during World War II. The monument was unveiled in 2005 and is lined with panels of high relief sculpture in bronze depicting scenes from the Battle of Britain.
Two iconic symbols of London, the black cab and the old Routemaster double-decker bus, this one being used for tours around the capital. In the background you can see the Shell Mex House with its large clock facing the river Thames and the Southbank! This is 3 exposures with -1+ stops bracketing, then Photomatix for HDR and tonemapping, and finally Photoshop for the finishing touches!
This is a very early Magic Lantern slide showing Westminster Bridge looking east towards the north bank, the bridge was opened in 1862 and its parapet on the downstream side reached to the roadway in front of Ginger’s Hotel which can be seen on the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment next to the white building which was the Westminster Tavern. Both buildings were demolished in early 1872 to make way for St. Stephen’s Club. The Club was removed when Portcullis House was built in the late 1990s. Part of the parapet was demolished to make way for the roadway on Victoria Embankment in 1868. I think that the date of the slide is probably 1869-1870ish, there is a glimpse of a knifeboard bus on the bridge, and I would like to know what is intriguing the two ladies at the stall.
A long exposure of the Memorial Arch on the Victoria Embankment, Nottingham. The motto, Vivit Post Funera Virtus translates to "Virtue Outlives Death"
Explored Sep 11, 2011 #427
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Details:-
Canon 1000D
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC
Focal Length: 10mm
21 Seconds at f/16, ISO 100
B&W ND110 Filter
Tripod Mounted
This is a Regal Art Publishing Co postcard from about 1906 showing a rare colourised view from Hungerford Bridge which includes the London County Council paddle steamer, Christopher Wren. The postcard was used by the B. Morris & Sons Ltd company to invite customers to their famous tobacconist shop in Half Moon Passage, Whitechapel. The wording of the invitation is curious to modern ears.
“Our Mr. A.R. Start will have the pleasure of waiting upon you about the 29th inst when a reserve of your favours will oblige. Your Obedient servants, B. Morris & Sons Ltd". The postcard was sent to a man in Southport, so he had a long way to come for his fags.
The paddle steamer, Christopher Wren, was one of the thirty steamers built for the ill-fated LCC Riverboat service by various companies, this steamer was built by G. Rennie & Co at Greenwich. The steamer was sold to City steamboats in 1909 for the sum of £393.00 and saw service on the Thames until the first world war when it was commandeered by the Government for service with the Royal Indian Marine in their operations against the Turks on the River Tigris in Mesopotamia.
A shot along this amazing bridge at night!
The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge flanked by two more recent, cable-stayed, pedestrian bridges that share the railway bridge's foundation piers, and which are named the Golden Jubilee Bridges.
The north end of the bridge is Charing Cross railway station, and is near Embankment Pier and the Victoria Embankment. The south end is near Waterloo station, County Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, and the London Eye.
Royal Air Force Memorial, London. The memorial, installed in 1923, was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, with a bronze sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The eagle, looking across the river towards France, is perched on a bronze globe encircled by a gilded band with the signs of the zodiac. It is grade 2* listed.
City of Westminster, London, England - RAF War Memorial, Victoria Embankment
March 2023
Tattershall Castle is a former passenger ferry now converted to a pub restaurant and moored on the Thames next to Victoria Embankment.
The Golden Jubilee Bridge is seen behind the ship.
Tattershall Castle, Victoria Embankment, London (City of Westminster) SW1
This is an anonymously published postcard showing on the right, the brand new Art Deco Unilever House at 100 Victoria Embankment. This is probably 1933 or 1934, in the distance looking west and upstream is the temporary emergency bridge which was built just downstream of Waterloo Bridge when the latter became unsafe due to subsidence. The temporary bridge was erected in 1925 and was not removed until 1943. The Blackfriars Bridge approach is bottom left together with the substantial tram stop on Victoria Embankment.
My son's wife is taking part in the London Landmarks Half Marathon, I am waiting to cheer her on when she gets to this point. The runners pass this spot, on the Victoria Embankment, twice. The finish is in Whitehall which can be seen at the end of the road opposite.
The chap on the disco is playing music and calling out encouragement to the runners.
A couple of photos taken a while ago...umbrellas and other tourist paraphenalia on Victoria Embankment.
This is a W.H. Smith real photographic postcard published under the "Bridge House" name in about 1935 showing the then new Lambeth Bridge (1932) taken from the north bank looking towards the southbank although it is actually looking east if you see what I mean. It looks like the photographer's vantage point was on an upper floor of Thames House, now the headquarters of MI5. The new Lambeth Bridge replaced the suspension bridge built in 1862. There were problems with the bridge almost from the start and in 1910 it was restricted to pedestrian traffic only, a new vehicular bridge was needed to alleviate the traffic on Westminster Bridge. The architects of the new bridge were Sir Reginald Blomfield, the designer of the Royal Air Force Memorial on Victoria Embankment, and G. Topham Forrest, the architect who designed Chelsea Bridge.