Towering achievements
CLIVE ASLET
Horace Jones: Architect of Tower Bridge By David Lascelles Profile Editions £18.99
In 1881, Horace Jones, future architect of Tower Bridge, should have become President of the Royal Academy. He thought so, at least. As he was the only vice-president in the race (there were two of them, but the other didn’t stand), it ought to have been a foregone conclusion. But a Stop Horace candidate was found in the person of George Edmund Street. Since Street was himself no team player, besides being up to his ears in building the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, his backers must have been desperate. Well-fed and humorous, Jones could also be tyrannical and pushing – qualities that had helped make him a fortune. Worldly success did not, however, stand him in good stead with some of his RIBA colleagues, particularly since nearly all of it had come from the City of London, where he was architect and surveyor to the Corporation. It...
I’m afraid this isn’t one of our four free articles available in full, which are set out in the first two rows of the ‘Magazine’ page.
Please click here to find them.
To buy a digital version of this issue for just £2.99, click here
