Map coordinates: 51°29′05″N 0°08′51″W (decimal 51.48472°N 0.14750°W)
Grosvenor Bridge, often referred to as the Victoria Railway Bridge, is a rail crossing: a railway bridge that spans the River Thames in central London. It connects the stretch of river between Vauxhall Bridge on one side and Chelsea Bridge on the other.
Origins
The structure is actually two adjacent bridges built during the mid-1800s. The eastern span was constructed by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway between 1858 and 1860 to carry trains into Victoria station; this eastern span was the first railway crossing of the Thames in the central area of the city. The neighbouring western span was added a few years later, completed in 1865–66 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
20th-century renewal
In the 1960s both original spans were replaced with new elements made from steel. Rather than removing the original supports, the old piers were left in place and subsequently encased in concrete during the 1963–67 reconstruction. The engineering firm Freeman Fox & Partners designed and oversaw the renewal.
Local area
- North bank: the bridge overlooks Pimlico to the north and east, with Chelsea lying to the west. Nearby landmarks include the Lister Hospital and the Royal Chelsea Hospital.
- South bank: to the east is Nine Elms and to the west the district of Battersea. Battersea Power Station sits just south of the bridge and Battersea Park is to the south-west.