Chelsea Suspension Bridge

Above Vauxhall, and just beyond the great railway-bridge that leads to Victoria station, is the Chelsea Suspension Bridge, Grosvenor Road, opened in 1858 as a means of direct communication with Battersea Park.

Antiques from London on eBay

William Eley & William Fearn Sterling Silver Condiment Spoon London circa 1820
11 May 2012 at 7:17am
US $55.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Friday May-18-2012 5:17:16 PDT
Bid now | Add to watch list
Sotheby's London Modern & Contemporary Design 2008
31 Oct 2009 at 8:08am
US $24.00
End Date: Friday May-18-2012 6:13:56 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $24.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list

It is light and graceful, an ornament to the river; the centre span is 333 feet, and four ornate suspension towers rising from the caissons and piers with their globular upper portions gilded and painted, differentiate this bridge from others.

From the Surrey side, looking west, ignoring the plain brick barracks 1100 feet long, there is plenty to delight the painter's eye above the background of thick foliage.

From the right-hand point of view is seen in the following order:

• the tower of the new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster
• the lantern-cross and dome of the Brompton Oratory
• the great cupola of the Albert Hall faintly discerned in the distance
• the campanile tower of the Imperial Institute, very distinct; and the Natural History Museum, Chelsea Hospital and its grounds, most picturesque
• St. Luke's Chelsea tower with its four pinnacles just the height of Brooklyn Bridge, New York
• the Queen Anne houses on the Chelsea Embankment
• the old Physic-garden beyond, looking rather desolate shut in between blocks of new red-brick buildings
• old Chelsea Church tower with its flagstaff and crown-surmounted wind-vane

while all the intervening spaces seem to be beautifully filled in with trees, gardens, and grass-plots.

Next: Albert Bridge