London bridges across the river Thames: 1 Tower bridge

Tower bridge reflected in the glass of city hall

Tower Bridge (built 1886–1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge

it is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name and has become an iconic symbol of London

although the bridge is an undoubted landmark, professional commentators in the early 20th century were critical of its aesthetics ‘it represents the vice of tawdriness and pretentiousness, and of falsification of the actual facts of the structure’, wrote H. H. Statham  while Frank Brangwyn stated that ‘a more absurd structure than the Tower Bridge was never thrown across a strategic river’ in 1909 the Times was particularly scathing, saying that ‘it looks like a monstrous Gothic toy that ought to be one of the side-shows of an exhibition', and George Bernard Shaw commented in 1924 that 'engineering bridges are offensive only when they are artistically pretentious, like the Tower Bridge' as late as 1952 Nikolaus Pevsner, the architectural historian, referred to the ‘barren Gothic towers’ and says of the bridge that ‘the massive structure does much damage to the skyline’

architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the bridge as one of his four choices for the 2002 BBC television documentary series Britain's Best Buildings – the idiot prince who is so keen on pastiche probably thinks it’s beautiful

the bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for the queen Elizabeth 2’s silver jubilee, originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue colour