The Queen's Tower is a

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

topped with a copper-covered

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

. It is situated in the

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

Campus of

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

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, just north of the Imperial College Road. To reach the base of the dome from the ground on foot, one must ascend a series of narrow

spiral staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...

s with 325 steps in total. The tower used to be the central tower of the

Imperial Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

, and is now the sole remaining part of that building.

History

The Imperial Institute was founded on

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's Golden Jubilee in 1887, and its partial demolition began in 1957. At that time it was generally known as the Collcutt Tower, after its designer, the Victorian architect

Thomas Edward Collcutt Thomas Edward Collcutt c.1890 Thomas Edward Collcutt (16 March 1840 – 7 October 1924) was an English architect in the Victorian era who designed several important buildings in London including the Savoy Hotel, Lloyd's Register of Shipping ...

. The tower itself would have been demolished along with the rest of the Institute, had it not been for a public campaign led by the then Poet Laureate

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

, a supporter of 19th-century architecture. He warned that tastes in architecture change, and that the destruction of this building (at a time when Victorian architecture had fallen out of favour) would be a loss.

Restoration

In 1966, with the rest of the building demolished, the tower was repaired to enable it to stand on its own, which involved the construction of new foundations. There are also two stone lions at the foot of the tower, which were once set at the entrance to the Imperial Institute. These two stone lions are pair of a set of four, the other two (which are not in such good condition) are in the grounds of the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

. In 2022 works started to complete repairs to the masonry and replace the copper roof, following a fail of masonry. The timber louvres around the bell chamber will be replaced along with repairs or replacement of the flat roofs to the balconies. The work is expected to take two years to complete. The work required an 83m free-standing scaffold tower consisting of an inner access scaffold, outer scaffold exoskelton and a besoke circular temporary roof covering. Propping was installed in the basement tunnels and transfer the load into the tower's foundations.

Bells

There are ten bells hung for

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

in the middle of the tower, about two thirds of the way up. These bells, known collectively as the Alexandra Peal, were a gift from Mrs Elizabeth M. Millar of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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in 1892, and are named after

— the tenor (largest) bell — the Prince and Princess of Wales (Albert Edward and Alexandra), two other children of Queen Victoria (Alfred and Arthur) and the five Wales grandchildren (Albert Victor, George, Louise, Victoria and Maud). They are rung on royal anniversaries and on the dates of the Imperial College degree ceremonies.

Viewing gallery

The highest viewing gallery is below the

at the top of the building. Upon walking through the door one gets a unique view, with the top of the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial is a Gothic Revival Ciborium (architecture), ciborium in Kensington Gardens, London, designed and dedicated to the memory of Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Great Britain. Located directly north of the Royal Albert Ha ...

on top of the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. Being one of the tallest towers in west London, the Queen's Tower enjoys an uninterrupted view in all directions. It has been estimated that in good viewing conditions the furthest visible point is 20 miles away. As of February 2022, the viewing gallery is closed to visitors.

Imperial College London

The Queen's Tower is now in the custody of

References

External links

Imperial college: History of the towerOriginal design drawing for the tower
{{Imperial College London 1887 establishments in England Towers completed in 1887 Buildings and structures of Imperial College London Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Towers in London Bell towers in the United Kingdom Domes in the United Kingdom