2-888-284 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Part of the Victoria Tower - the Hoisting-Scaffold, 1850. '...there are few mechanical contrivances employed in the various works at the New Palace, Westminster, of more interest than the novel and admirable scaffold used in the erection of that enormous and magnificent pile, the Victoria Tower. The singular appearance of the scaffold, viewed from all parts - seemingly nothing more than three huge cranes, and the perfectly easy manner in which they appear to work, are extremely striking and interesting, in addition to the circumstance that the exterior of the building is not disfigured during its progress by a forest of scaffold-poles, stretching their gaunt limbs in every direction...we trust the brief notice we have given will enable our readers to appreciate one of those wonderful mechanical means of saving labour which so eminently distinguish the era of modern engineering...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.