It’s hard to believe there was a city of London where no one knew what the ‘Tower Bridge’ was, but that was very much the case before 1894. Arriving at the turn of the century, much like Dracula (1897) and The Time Machine (1895), the bridge has become a staple in the city just as these titles have been etched in the fabric of the world’s culture.
While we can’t summon HG Wells’ invention to go back and see Tower Bridge in its first year, we can use the equally vital (and legitimate) invention of photography to place ourselves back in the days where it was a young and bright-eyed new bridge.
‘Launching A Landmark: The Unseen Opening Weeks’ at Tower Bridge
An exhibition celebrating 130 years of Tower Bridge is arriving this summer, showing off never-seen-before snaps of the bridge that has become synonymous with jaw-dropping photographs of the centre of London. ‘Launching A Landmark: The Unseen Opening Weeks’ will open on June 22 and run all the way through to September.
Why have these shots never been shown before? They were discovered recently in a box by the great-grandson of Edward Crutwell, an engineer at Tower Bridge. The exhibition will provide further insight into what the bridge looked like in its very first few weeks after completion, giving a new point of view alongside existing snaps of the Bridge’s royal opening.
Patrick Molineux, Cruttwell’s great-grandson who discovered the photographs, said: “My mother had stored the photos for decades in an archive box, and we were pleasantly shocked to discover that they’d never been seen publicly.
“It’s always been a source of pride for our family to have such a connection to an icon like Tower Bridge so we couldn’t quite believe that we’d discovered such a piece of history. We can’t wait to see them on display and to bring the rich history to life with the exhibition.”
Launching A Landmark: The Unseen Opening Weeks will open on the pavements of Tower Bridge on June 22. Find out more via the Tower Bridge website.