Watkin's Tower

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Watkin's Tower
Image of the object
Basic data
Place: London
London Borough: Brent
Region: England
Country: United Kingdom
Altitude : 55  m ASL
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 20 ″  N , 0 ° 16 ′ 46 ″  W.
Use: Observation tower
Demolition : 1907
Tower data
Construction time : 1892-1894
Client : Sir Edward Watkin
Architect : Stewart, MacLaren and Dunn
Building material : Wrought iron
Total height : planned height: 350.5 m
, achieved height: 47 m
Data on the transmission system
Further data
Status: tore off
Engineer: Sir Benjamin Baker
Shutdown: 1901
Position map
Watkin's Tower (Greater London)
Watkin's Tower
Watkin's Tower
Localization of Greater London in England

Watkin's Tower (also Wembley Tower ) is an unfinished tower construction project in London that was named after its builder Sir Edward Watkin . The 47 meter high stump, built in the years 1892-1894 based on the model of the Eiffel Tower , was demolished in 1907 due to financial and structural difficulties. The unfinished structure was open to the public for several years. A height of 350.5 meters was planned, which would make the tower the tallest structure on earth when it was completed . Wembley Stadium was built on the site of the foundations of the former Watkin's Tower in 1922/1923 .

history

prehistory

In 1881, as part of its line expansion, the Metropolitan Railway acquired the country estate Wembley Park, on whose grounds numerous leisure facilities were built in the years that followed. At the time, Wembley was a rural village with only 3,000 inhabitants. Edward Watkin , Member of the House of Commons and Chairman of the Railway Company, became aware of the success of the newly opened Eiffel Tower in 1889 and purchased a piece of land for £ 32,929 . He sent an engineer to Paris to inspect the tower. After consulting with then Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone , Watkin decided to build a similar landmark for London.

In July 1890, Watkin informed the rail company's shareholders that he intended to build a tower in Wembley Park. This would attract a large number of visitors and thus increase the company's profits. With a height of 366 meters, the London Tower would clearly tower above that in Paris. Watkins ambitious ideas not only stipulated that the tower should exceed the height of the Eiffel Tower, but that it should also be able to accommodate three times as many visitors. Watkin was known for his visionary project ideas: decades before the tower was built, he had planned a tunnel under the English Channel for a continuous rail link from London to Paris . However, the project was abandoned in 1882.

Competition and drafts

In an international competition ten criteria for the tower were formulated and a total of 750 guineas for the first two winners was announced in November 1889. The total of 68 submitted designs came from the United Kingdom as well as from the USA, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Austria, the Ottoman Empire and Canada. Watkin originally even tried to recruit Gustave Eiffel himself as a designer; however, the French refused for patriotic reasons. The starting point for the competition was the Eiffel Tower, whose creative, structural and economic success was to serve as the basis. Similar to the Eiffel Tower, Watkin's Tower should also have social benefits and serve as an observatory as well as a health resort that should use the healing properties of mountain air . With all of these points Watkin pointed out that they had already been tried and tested on the Eiffel Tower.

Illustrated catalog of the competition designs (title page)

An eight-legged metal tower with four platforms was selected as the winning design from the sometimes adventurous and stylistically and statically questionable competition designs. According to a newspaper report in the Times on June 18, 1890, many of the designs were for very playful-looking towers that were ruled out due to a lack of construction.

The first place, which was awarded 500 guineas, was an oriental-looking design by Stewart, MacLaren and Dunn from London. He envisaged that the tower should have two viewing platforms with restaurants on different levels and, in addition to theater, exhibition and dance rooms, should also house a Turkish bath . For the first platform alone, at a height of 61 meters, a floor area of ​​2000 square meters was planned. A hotel with 90 rooms on three floors and a central hall 20 meters high was to be built there. Another hall with a floor area of ​​1000 square meters would have been planned on the second platform.

The octagonal tower was designed to be 366 meters (1200 feet) high and around 91 meters in diameter. It would have been narrower than the Eiffel Tower, which is 124.9 meters wide at its base. The 14,659-ton structure was estimated to cost £ 352,222 to build. Four elevators should lead to the first platform and three more from it to the top. In addition, the first platform could have been reached via two stairwells in the pillars. Electric lighting was also installed as an added convenience.

The second-placed design, which was awarded 250 guineas, should have been almost 397 meters high. It was very similar to the first place in its basic conception and structural structure, but differed from it in a very playful-looking substructure, which was supposed to conceal the pillar construction. For this purpose, the architects Webster and Haigh from Liverpool used palatial arches and towers from which the actual tower, also with an octagonal floor plan, was to grow. Despite the taller and wider construction, the architect planned to use only 8,820 tonnes of steel for his structure (around 60% of the mass of steel that the first-placed design would have required). Even so, the construction costs were an estimated 399,638 pounds higher than his. This already showed that the designs were often of a very questionable quality.

Other designs included structures of up to 700 meters in height. One of the most curious designs is the one by Albert Brunel from Rouen, inspired by the Leaning Tower of Pisa . Its granite tower, 700 meters high and 175 meters wide at the base, should have weighed almost 200,000 tons and had a projected construction cost of over 1.1 million pounds.

planning

The implemented planning draft (1894) in graphic comparison to the Eiffel Tower

Watkin had a revised design made from the competition design that won first place. As a result of the revision, the octagonal floor plan was transformed into a square one, so that it looked even more similar to the Eiffel Tower with its four pillars . The tower height was reduced to 350.5 meters. For this purpose, the base was widened and its dimensions from the pillar outer edges should be 123.8 meters. The total mass was estimated at 7000 tons, which is less than the Paris model. Watkin's Tower also needed significantly fewer cross braces for this. The pillars should also appear much thinner and more filigree. In order to make this possible in terms of statics, a shaft support that ran through the center was provided from the base to the tip, in which the elevators should also run. In contrast to the elevators in the Eiffel Tower , they would bring visitors to the platforms much faster because no cumbersome transfers would have been necessary. In addition, the inclined elevators in the tower pillars of the Eiffel Tower run more slowly than conventional vertical elevators.

A corresponding reception hall was planned at the base. Watkin's Tower - like the Eiffel Tower - should have had three platforms; at Watkin's Tower at a height of 47 meters, 140 meters and 280 meters respectively, and would have been crowned at the top by a column with a lantern on top. The highest platform was to house a post office and a telephone exchange. A powerful electric headlight was planned on the top , which should emit a light that could be seen from afar.

Architecturally, the design with fewer decorative elements was planned much more soberly than its counterpart in Paris. The basic design and slimness can be found around 30 years later in the much smaller Berlin radio tower .

Of the total of 113 hectares of land available to the construction company, around 60 hectares were to be used for the tower and a park surrounding it. The tower would have stood on a slight hill and would have been accessible through a corresponding network of paths.

Construction phase

Watkin's Tower during its construction

Watkin founded The Tower Company, Limited on August 14, 1889 with a capital stock of £ 300,000 , of which he was the majority shareholder; the Metropolitan Railway itself also later participated. Watkin himself is said to have invested around £ 100,000 from his private assets for the project. While the work began in May 1891 for the construction of the surrounding park, which made foundation work for the tower itself until 1892. The actual construction work on the tower began in June 1893. The building inspection led Sir Benjamin Baker , the builder of the railway bridge Forth Bridge , who also directed the Chaired the Competition Commission.

After the foundation work, the concrete foundation was completed and then the construction of the tower feet began. In addition to the pillars, the central main girder was also hoisted using a steam-powered winch . The 40-ton part reached from the ground to the first platform at 47 meters. Four electric cranes were planned for the further construction work , which should bring the parts up to 152 meters to the corresponding construction height. Then you would have continued to work with just one crane. Around 150 workers - around 100 fewer than when building the Eiffel Tower - were involved in the construction work.

Visionary representation (1894) of the planned Wembley Park with Watkin's Tower

Watkin tried by a number of attractions and rides, including a roller coaster with a length of one mile , to increase the attraction of Wembley Park and thus the tower. One of the largest amusement parks of its time was built on over 20 hectares . An artificial lake that could be navigated by boats was also to be part of the complex, as was a spectacular waterfall . In April 1894, it was still optimistic that construction work would end in 1895.

In September 1895, a good year after the park opened in May 1894, the tower was raised to the first platform and was 47 meters high. The construction company was Heenan & Froude from Manchester , which was building the Blackpool Tower around the same time . When the tower opened in May 1896, the elevators were put into operation.

Brief operation and demolition

The Wembley Boys Brigade poses in front of Watkin's Tower (c. 1900)

Even the unfinished structure was a striking landmark that clearly towered over its surroundings. In the opening year, a local brewer even advertised its products with a picture of the tower. Of the approximately 100,000 park visitors in the first year of the opening from May 1896, only around 18,500 bought a ticket for access to the only platform of the unfinished tower. Not least because of the great distance to the city center, public traffic fell well short of expectations; Initially, around 60,000 visitors were expected every day. In the period that followed, there was a further significant drop in visitor numbers. For the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on June 22, 1897, the unfinished tower was ceremoniously illuminated .

In the mid-1890s, Sir Edward Watkin fell ill, so that his construction project fell behind schedule. The original eight-legged design of the tower would have had the advantage that the all-round view would have been better than with a tower with four sides. For reasons of cost, however, the number of load-bearing pillars was reduced in the revised design, which led to an increase in the pressure load on the soft subsoil. It turned out that the tower would collapse if it was further built due to the settlement .

The completed part of Watkin's Tower consisted of four tower feet, on the first platform of which a pavilion with a pyramid roof was enthroned as a temporary facility at the four corners above the pillars . Instead of a decorative arch as in the Eiffel Tower, lattice structures arranged in the shape of a cross connected the pillars and the upper edge of the platform. The elevator was not in the pillars, as it was in its Parisian model, but in a central structure. The edge of the platform was barred with a surrounding railing .

After Watkins illness, no one pursued his project with the same enthusiasm and the Tower Company , which had only a capital of 87,000 pounds, finally went into voluntary liquidation in 1899 . Watkin died in 1901, and from the following year the public was forbidden from entering the tower stump for safety reasons. The neglected building ruins were finally torn down between 1904 and 1907; on September 7, 1907, the foundations were blasted with dynamite. The 2700 tons of scrap iron contained in the structure were exported to Italy .

In 1906, the named Tower Company in The Wembley Park Estate Company and called a housing program to life.

Situation after the demolition

Remains of the foundations of Watkin's Tower with the Wembley Stadium already visible (around 1922)

The stadium, originally named Empire Stadium , was built on the former site of Watkin's Tower ; it is known today as Wembley Stadium . It was built on the occasion of the British Empire Exhibition , which took place from 1924 to 1925 .

The four craters of the former foundations were still visible until the construction of the original Wembley Stadium in the early 1920s; the site had a very rural character until it was built. With the completion of Wembley Stadium, the park became a very popular meeting place and venue for a wide variety of sports. Even ice skating was possible on the artificial lake in winter. By the end of the First World War , over 100 sports clubs had settled there. The area around Wembley Stadium also developed into a quiet and exclusive residential area, which was supplemented by an 18-hole golf course .

When the old Wembley stadium was demolished and the new Wembley stadium was built in 2002, the concrete foundations of Watkin's Tower that were still in the ground were found. Today there are two large steel lattice towers in London , but without a viewing platform, namely the Crystal Palace Tower and the Croydon transmitter .

Size comparison of the never completed Watkin's Tower (right) and other London structures with the Eiffel Tower

Naming

The 47 meter high tower stump, depiction from around 1900

Depending on whether the tower was in the planning, construction or demolition phase, it was given different names and surnames. While Watkin's Tower is most often used in retrospect , the Great Tower of London or Metropolitan Tower  - according to the railway company - was also often mentioned in the competition and planning phase . In older contemporary graphics or photographs, however, it was more often referred to as Wembley Tower or Wembley Park Tower . When it later became apparent that construction was stalling and attempts were made to market the tower stump as an attraction, the unfinished structure was given the derisive nicknames London Stump ("London Stump") and Watkin's Folly ("Watkins Madness").

Since 2012, a sports bar and restaurant north of Wembley Stadium has been named Watkin's Folly in memory of the tower . A small cul-de-sac is named after the owner to the northeast of the extensive area around Wembley Stadium .

reception

The Blackpool Tower remains the only legacy of the initial Turmbaustrebens the United Kingdom received

Watkin's Tower joins a construction inspired by the Eiffel Tower Turmbauwelle one that took its origin in the 1890s. In the colonial power of the United Kingdom , this structural competition was particularly pronounced. The first and at the same time most successful, since it still exists, was the 158-meter-high Blackpool Tower, built from 1891 to 1894 in the English seaside resort of Blackpool . Despite its strong resemblance to the Eiffel Tower, it is considered architecturally successful and, because of its importance, was included in the highest classification ("Grade I") of the UK 's official lists of monuments . The tower construction of the New Brighton Tower , built between 1896 and 1900, had to be demolished between 1919 and 1921 due to ailing building structure. After their construction, both towers were the tallest structures in the country.

Construction of Watkin's Tower began just months later than the Blackpool Tower. In terms of the success of the project, it ranks behind the two completely erected towers. The initial reactions were different. The Pall Mall Gazette saw the tower under construction as the main attraction of Wembley Park. The illustrated weekly newspaper The Graphic described the structural data in detail in an article on April 14, 1894 and gave a rather positive assessment. While the Times raved about the breathtaking elevators that could take impatient visitors to the top in just two and a half minutes, an article in Building News 1894 unreservedly dubbed the tower "unfinished ugliness".

The dilemma of the building, which ultimately resulted in its failure, led an English specialist magazine back to the existence of the Eiffel Tower. She explained that the existence of the Eiffel Tower and the hope of avoiding any imitation creates a significant problem. The Eiffel Tower combines the architectural and economic aspects in a very rational way.

All subsequent attempts to outdo the Eiffel Tower or at least to emulate it, such as the tower in Douglas or the approximately 70-meter-high pyramid-shaped tower in the seaside resort of Morecambe (1898), were never implemented or had to be canceled.

In 1973 the publicist and poet Sir John Betjeman told the history of Metro-land in a BBC documentary . Betjeman described Watkin's engineering vision in the then unknown and rural north of London as follows:

“Beyond Neasden there was an unimportant hamlet where for years the Metropolitan didn't stop. Wembley. Slushy fields and grass farms. Then out of the mist arose Sir Edward Watkin's dream: an Eiffel Tower for London ”

“Beyond Neasden, there was a meaningless hamlet where the Metropolitan didn't stop for years. Wembley. Muddy fields and yards. Then Sir Watkin's dream arose out of the mist: an Eiffel Tower for London. "

- John Betjeman : Metro-land

literature

  • Bill Curtis: Blackpool Tower . Terence Dalton, Sudbury 1988, ISBN 0-86138-064-9 , pp. 16-17 .
  • Stephen Halliday: Underground to Everywhere: London's Underground Railway in the Life of the Capital . Sutton Publishing, Stroud 2001, ISBN 0-7509-2585-X , pp. 105 .
  • John Neville Greaves: Sir Edward Watkin: The Last of the Railway Kings . Book Guild Publishing Ltd, 2004, ISBN 978-1-909757-32-5 , pp. 140-144 .
  • Trevor Rowley: The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century . Hambledon Continuum, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-85285-388-4 , pp. 405-407 .
  • James Moore, Paul Nero: Pigeon guided missiles . The History Press, Stroud, GB 2011, ISBN 978-0-7524-6676-7 , pp. 57-61 .

Web links

Commons : Watkin's Tower  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Nero Moore: Pigeon guided missiles. P. 58.
  2. ^ Trevor Rowley: English Landscape in the Twentieth Century. Bloomsbury Academic, 2006, ISBN 978-1-85285-388-4 , p. 405.
  3. a b Greaves: Sir Edward Watkin. The Last of the Railway Kings. P. 140.
  4. atlasobscura.com: Site of the Watkin's Tower. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  5. Nero Moore: Pigeon guided missiles. P. 59.
  6. a b c Tim de Lisle: The height of ambition. In: The Guardian . March 14, 2006, accessed June 7, 2012.
  7. a b Illustrated Catalog: Great Tower for London. 1890, p. 6f. ( here online ).
  8. ^ Competition designs for Watkins Tower. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  9. a b c The history of the Wembley Park area. ( Memento of April 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Article of November 12, 2009, accessed on May 23, 2016.
  10. a b Basic data of Watkin's Tower on skyscrapernews.com , accessed on May 24, 2016.
  11. From the official competition draft, proposal No. 37. Accessed on May 23, 2016.
  12. From the official competition draft, proposal No. 51. Accessed on May 24, 2016.
  13. From the official competition draft, suggestion no.29. Accessed on May 26, 2016.
  14. a b c d e The Graphic: Tower at Wembley. Article of April 14, 1894, accessed on May 25, 2016, p. 422 ( online here ).
  15. a b c Greaves: Sir Edward Watkin. The Last of the Railway Kings. P. 143.
  16. Ashley Jackson: Buildings of Empire. OUP Oxford, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-958938-8 .
  17. a b c Moore, Nero: Pigeon guided missiles. P. 60.
  18. Trevor Rowley: The English landscape in the twentieth century. Bloomsbury Academic Us, 2006, ISBN 1-85285-388-3 , p. 407.
  19. Nero Moore: Pigeon guided missiles. P. 61.
  20. Philip Grant: Wembley Park - its story up to 1922. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  21. Greaves: Sir Edward Watkin. The Last of the Railway Kings. P. 144.
  22. Trevor Rowley: The English landscape in the twentieth century. Bloomsbury Academic Us, 2006, ISBN 1-85285-388-3 , p. 406.
  23. ^ Rowley: The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century. P. 407.
  24. ^ Bar Watkin's Folly website , accessed May 25, 2016.
  25. Watkin Road on maps.google , accessed June 12, 2016.
  26. ^ RT McDonald: Blackpool Tower. In: The Structural Engineer. Volume 72, No. 21/1. November 1994, p. 363. Quoted from: Engineering. March 1893.
  27. David I. Harvie: Eiffel. The Genius who reinvented himself. Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7524-9505-7 , chap. 7th
  28. The Tower Morecambe. Selected photographs from the archives of Morecambe Bay, accessed May 25, 2016.
  29. John Betjeman: Betjeman's England. Stephen Games, 2009, accessed June 12, 2016 .
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on August 4, 2016 in this version .