The Great Tower for London, 1890

A year after the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the British decided that “we should build a tower”. Even better, and even higher. At first, it was decided to invite the French engineer Eiffel himself, but he refused for patriotic reasons. Then in 1890 an architectural competition was held. 68 projects were presented. Vegetarian Society, for example, proposed a variant with hanging gardens in which to grow vegetables. There was a project with a spiral miniature railway. There was a copy of the Tower of Babel.

As a result, the project won №37 – London tower was supposed to be on more than forty meters above Paris. The winner is not the most interesting project, copier, with impairments, Eiffel option. 1

The observation deck had to be a restaurant, a theater, an exhibition and a Turkish bath. It decided to build a park in Wembley. It was planned that this tourist attraction will greatly help the development of north London.

However, when the builders reached a height of 47 meters, ran out of money. In addition, it became clear that the swampy soil could not bear the weight of the tower. Construction freeze. Then the war started and the construction was dismantled for scrap. Now at this point Wembley Stadium.

Second place in the competition won the project. 3
Let’s take a look out of curiosity what other projects were presented.Source — 68 projects, Chazhuttonsfsm