Horace Jones

Architect of Tower Bridge

by David Lascelles

Horace Jones (1819-1887)

Few people have heard of Horace Jones but everyone knows his most famous work: London’s Tower Bridge. Jones designed this stunning creation with its turrets and bascules in the 1880s to provide a much-needed Thames crossing for Victorian London.

Jones was the architect of other popular City sights: the markets of Smithfield, Leadenhall and Billingsgate, the Temple Bar memorial with its fierce dragon, the City School of Music and Drama. He even had a hand in the construction of Holborn Viaduct. In fact, without him, London would be a very different place.

Jones was chief architect to the City of London authority from 1864 till his death in 1887, and in that time he oversaw most of the huge works that transformed Dickensian London into the capital of the world’s greatest Empire. He fought tough battles to achieve his work, with Parliament, with entrenched interests who resisted change, even with his own council. But he usually won. In the end he was knighted by Queen Victoria for services to the City. So why is he not better known?

One reason is that many people in the architectural profession look down on him. They see him as a local authority engineer, competent but lacking in artistry, and they do nothing to promote him. They consider that buildings like Tower Bridge belong to Disneyland rather than the realm of serious architecture. When Jones applied to become President of the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects, they turned him down as unsuitable. It was only after he mounted a noisy protest that they elected him to the post.

Another reason is that the Corporation of London has neglected him. There are no memorials to the man who is arguably their greatest architect: no plaques, no places named in his honour, no portraits or statues.

It is an extraordinary story of undeserved obscurity.

The biography I published in 2024 is the first to appear in the nearly 140 years since he died. It fills a wide gap in the architectural history of London. But it is only a start. Much more needs to be done to explore Jones’ life and work, to make his name known to the millions who admire his dramatic buildings.

I have lodged an application with English Heritage to have Jones commemorated with a Blue Plaque over his home in Marylebone. Smithfield Market is being renovated to provide a new home for the Museum of London: this is another opportunity to bring Jones’ name into the public eye. People may disagree over the quality of his work. But his achievement as an architect is undoubted and needs to be celebrated.

Horace Jones. Architect of Tower Bridge by David Lascelles. 175pp. Fully illustrated. Profile Editions. £18.99. Available from Amazon and independent booksellers.

For more information contact book@davidlascelles.com