Lambeth Bridge is a road traffic and footbridge crossing the River Thames in an east-west direction in central London. The river flows north at the crossing point. Downstream, the next bridge is Westminster Bridge; upstream, the next bridge is Vauxhall Bridge.
The most conspicuous colour in the bridge's paint scheme is red, the same colour as the leather benches in the House of Lords, which is at the southern end of the Palace of Westminster nearest the bridge. This is in contrast to Westminster Bridge, which is predominantly green, the same colour as the benches in the House of Commons at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament.
On the east side, in Lambeth, are Lambeth Palace, the Albert Embankment, St. Thomas' Hospital, and the International Maritime Organization. On the west side, in Westminster, are Thames House (the headquarters of MI5), behind which is Horseferry House (the National Probation Service headquarters), and Clelland House and Abell House (the headquarters of HM Prison Service), and the Millbank Tower and Tate Britain. The Palace of Westminster is a short walk downstream to the north through the Victoria Tower Garden.
Lambeth Bridge is on the site of a horse ferry between the Palace of Westminster and Lambeth Palace on the south bank. Its name lives on in Horseferry Road, which forms the approach to the bridge on the north bank.
The first modern bridge was a suspension bridge, 828 feet (252.4 m) long, designed by Peter W. Barlow. Sanctioned by an Act of Parliament in 1860, it opened as a toll bridge in 1862 but doubts about its safety, coupled with its awkwardly steep approaches deterring horse-drawn traffic, meant it soon became used almost solely as a pedestrian crossing. It ceased to be a toll bridge in 1879 when the Metropolitan Board of Works assumed responsibility for its upkeep — it was by then severely corroded, and by 1910 it was closed to vehicular traffic.
The London County Council prepared a masterplan for the area, including a replacement road bridge linking to a widened Horseferry Road, which was authorised by London County Council (Lambeth Bridge) Act 1924. Before work had started on the project, the 1928 Thames flood caused extensive destruction of property in the Millbank area. Following the flood the Chelsea Embankment was rebuilt and raised, resulting in some minor redesign of the approaches, and creating the open space to the south of Lambeth Bridge now known as Victoria Tower Gardens South. During the period of delay, the bridge was also redesigned to be able to cope with a higher weight of motorised traffic.
The current structure, a five-span steel arch, designed by engineer Sir George Humphreys and architects Sir Reginald Blomfield and G. Topham Forrest, was built by Dorman Long and opened on 19 July 1932 by King George V. It formerly carried four lanes of road traffic (now reduced to three lanes, one of which is a buses-only lane flowing eastbound) from a roundabout junction by the Lambeth Palace northwards to another roundabout, where the Millbank road meets Horseferry Road .
The bridge is notable at road level for the pairs of obelisks at either end of the bridge, which are surmounted by stone pinecones. However, there is a popular urban legend that they are pineapples, as a tribute to Lambeth resident John Tradescant the younger, who is said to have grown the first pineapple in Britain.
The bridge was declared a Grade II listed structure in 2008, providing protection to preserve its special character from unsympathetic development. The listing designation includes the parapets, lamps, obelisks and the approach walls.
Reasons for Designation
Lambeth Bridge is designated for the following principal reasons:
- Designed by London County Council's consultant engineer Sir George William Humphreys (1863-1945) with Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) and George Topham Forrest (1872-1945) as consulting architects, it opened in 1932.
- Its urbane classical appearance is a landmark on the Thames and the bridge has an interesting mix of stone and steel and a graceful arched profile.
- The bridge also has historic interest as part of the continuum of river crossings at a place where Londoners have traversed the Thames since the C13.
- Of further historic note is the symbolism of the ornamentation on the bridge celebrating the LCC and the reign of George V. The red paint is a further point of interest, and links the bridge to the unique ensemble of political institutions on this stretch of the Thames, including the Houses of Parliament and the former headquarters of the LCC at County Hall.
- Lambeth Bridge has group value with these buildings and others in close proximity: the Grade I listed Lambeth Palace and the Palace of Westminster, the contemporary Norwest and Thames Houses of 1928 which frame the northern approach (both Grade II), and, further downstream, Westminster Bridge of 1862 (Grade II*).
Bridge, 1929-32, by Sir George Humphreys with Sir Reginald Blomfield and George Topham Forrest as consulting architects.
DESCRIPTION: Lambeth Bridge is a five-span steel arch structure carried on granite-faced reinforced concrete piers and abutments. With a total length of 236.5m, the steel superstructure is made up of a 50.3m centre span, two intermediate ones of 45.4m, and two shore spans each 38.1m long. The shallow steel arches, each consisting of nine ribs, support a reinforced concrete roadway between the balustrades, divided into a carriageway flanked by two footways. Steel caissons were used in the construction of the concrete piers which, like the abutments, are cased in polished Cornish granite. The coats of arms of London County Council are sculpted on the piers, below which two granite arms curve down to the top of the cutwaters.
The cast-iron balustrade and lamp stands augmented by steel latticework pylons were designed to honour the bridge's inauguration by King George V. Double lamps carried on granite uprights adorn each of the piers, and single lights on black lattice supports stand at intervals along the balustrades. On the approach to the bridge, the lamp standards are blue and supported by a LCC crest. In recognition of its proximity to the Palace of Westminster, Lambeth Bridge is painted predominately red, a reference to the colour of benches in the House of Lords (Westminster Bridge (qv) is painted green symbolising the benches of the House of Commons).
Obelisks at either end of the bridge are topped by stone pinecones, ancient symbols of hospitality; they are also thought to resemble pineapples and are linked to the renowned C17 botanist John Tradescant who is thought to have introduced the fruit to this country and is buried in the former Church of St Mary-in-Lambeth (now the Museum of Garden History) on the eastern approach to the bridge.