2-980-771 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Tower Bridge, Tower Hamlets, Greater London Authority, June 1886. A portrait of Sir Horace Jones seated beside the foundation stone of Tower Bridge. Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887) was the architect of Tower Bridge, which he designed in collaboration with the civil engineer John Wolfe Barry. This cabinet card shows him seated, stick in hand, beside the bridge's foundation stone around which it is possible to see the block and tackle used to manoeuvre the stone into its resting place on the south side of the Thames. The photograph was presumably taken in a temporary marquee erected to house the stone prior to it being laid by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales in June 1886. Sir Horace died the following year and the bridge was completed posthumously. Tower Bridge officially opened on the 30th June 1894.