Bringing London and Liverpool together.

 

Anyone familiar with Hammersmith Bridge will instantly recognise the image of its famous green Victorian bridge. The location of the view may confuse them a little, though, as it doesn't exist. The foreground has been replaced with the railings and quayside edge of Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock.

 

The reason behind the marriage of locations is that the client (the owner of Dr Rose Club, Birkenhead) used to live near Hammersmith Bridge but comes from Liverpool. She somehow wanted to knit these two places together seamlessly.

 

By sheer coincidence, the artist, Paul Curtis, also spent 4 years living in the shadow of Hammersmith Bridge too. And being from Liverpool himself, this was the perfect commission for him.

 

"Technically, this was a real challenge. It wasn't just the challenge of combining two separate scenes into one believable image. There are five separate perspective directions on this painting and not a single vanishing point could be marked out due to the side walls and ceiling encasing the mural wall. That said, it was an enjoyable piece to paint because Hammersmith is my favourite London bridge. I love how ornate it is"

 

Sadly, cracks were found in the structure in 2019, and the bridge has been closed since then. This has caused transport and traffic chaos in that area. There are plans to repair it, but it is unlikely to be able to take traffic again until 2027.

 

Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that links Hammersmith, on the north side of the river, and Barnes on the south side of the river. The current bridge, which is Grade II listed and was designed by civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, is the second permanent bridge on the site.

 

It was the first suspension bridge over the River Thames and was designed by William Tierney Clark.

 

The bridge had a clear waterway of 688 feet 8 inches (209.91 m). Its suspension towers were 48 feet (15 m) above the level of the roadway, where they were 22 feet (6.7 m) thick. The roadway was slightly curved upwards, 16 feet (4.9 m) above high water, and the extreme length from the back of the piers on shore was 822 feet 8 inches (250.75 m), supporting 688 feet (210 m) of roadway. There were eight chains, composed of wrought-iron bars, each five inches deep and one inch thick. Four of these had six bars in each chain; and four had only three, making thirty-six bars, which form a dip in the centre of about 29 feet (8.8 m). From these, vertical rods were suspended, which supported the roadway, formed of strong timbers covered with granite. The width of the carriageway was 20 feet (6.1 m), with two footways of 5 feet (1.5 m). The chains passed over the suspension towers, and were secured to the piers on each shore. The suspension towers were built of stone, and designed as archways of the Tuscan order. The approaches were provided with octagonal lodges, or toll-houses, with appropriate lamps and parapet walls, terminating with stone pillars, surmounted with ornamental caps.