Items20The creator’s order
  1. 1The Iron BridgeThe Iron BridgeCast-iron arch, 1779. Proposed by the Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and built under Abraham Darby III over the River Severn in Shropshire. This is where the iron bridge begins, and the charm is that its builders had no rulebook. Its 30-meter single span uses 378 tons of iron, and…0
  2. 2Puente NuevoPuente NuevoStone arch bridge, completed 1793. Usually credited to the architect José Martín de Aldehuela, though accounts differ on how much of the design was his. Ronda's "new" bridge is the one crossing here built entirely of masonry, and it shows what stone does best: carry load in pure compression…0
  3. 3Menai Suspension BridgeMenai Suspension BridgeChain suspension bridge, opened January 30, 1826. Designed by Thomas Telford to carry the London to Holyhead road across the Menai Strait to Anglesey. Telford had to keep the channel open for the Royal Navy and merchant shipping, and his answer was to hang the road from chains instead of standing…0
  4. 4Széchenyi Chain BridgeSzéchenyi Chain BridgeIron chain suspension bridge, opened November 20, 1849. Designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark, with the Scottish engineer Adam Clark, no relation, supervising the work across the Danube in Budapest. This was the first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, and it still reads as…0
  5. 5Royal Albert BridgeRoyal Albert BridgeWrought-iron railway bridge, opened May 2, 1859. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to carry the line over the River Tamar between Devon and Cornwall. Each of the two main spans is a structural diagram you can read from the riverbank: a heavy curved iron tube above, working in compression, and a…0
  6. 6Clifton Suspension BridgeClifton Suspension BridgeWrought-iron chain suspension bridge, opened 1864. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who was 24 when appointed, and completed after his death by John Hawkshaw and William Henry Barlow. The bridge took 33 years to finish, and it is a better structure for the delay. Hawkshaw and Barlow added an…0
  7. 7Brooklyn BridgeBrooklyn BridgeSteel-wire suspension bridge, opened May 24, 1883. Designed by John A. Roebling, who died before construction began, and built under his son Washington Roebling, with Emily Roebling taking on many of his duties after he fell ill. Its 1,595.5-foot main span broke every span record of its day, and…0
  8. 8Garabit viaductGarabit viaductWrought-iron arch railway viaduct, completed 1884. Built by Gustave Eiffel's company, with Maurice Koechlin as structural engineer, in France's Cantal region. Before the tower in Paris, there was this. A single parabolic arch with a 541-foot span lifts one railroad track about 400 feet above the…0
  9. 9Forth BridgeForth BridgeSteel cantilever railway bridge, completed 1890. Designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker and built by William Arrol of Glasgow across the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. No bridge shows its forces more honestly. Each of the three great diamond-shaped towers is a pair of balanced arms…0
  10. 10Tower BridgeTower BridgeCombined bascule and suspension bridge, opened 1894. Designed by the City of London architect Sir Horace Jones, who died in 1887, and the engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry, across the Thames beside the Tower of London. Here the beauty is a costume, and an honest look shows what is underneath. The…0