View on Westminster Bridge

A view taken on Westminster Bridge looking towards the old Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, enlivened by beggars, passersby and carriages. The fifteen arch Westminster Bridge, begun in 1738 and finally opened in 1750, was built by a Swiss engineer Charles Labelye, based on a design by Colen Campbell. However, there were continual problems with subsidence. In 1837 after work to rebuild the foundations was discovered to be inadequate, it was decided to replace the bridge with the present cast iron structure of seven arches, built 1854-62 by Thomas Page and designed by Sir Charles Barry.