Tower Bridge

Combined 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 Gothic towers are steel frames clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, dressed to suit the medieval Tower next door, while the two central leaves lift to let ships through and the side spans are suspended. Go up to the high-level walkways, 42 meters above the river, and stand on the glass floors, then check the published lift schedule and watch the leaves rise from the riverbank.