The building of this bridge from Oakley Street to Albert Bridge Road was authorised (25/06/1884) by parliament in association with the authorisation of Wandsworth Bridge and both the companies involved in these two enterprises were losers. The act required the Albert Bridge company to buy the then old timber Battersea bridge and pay for substantial, immediate repairs to it and to continue paying £3,000 p.a. maintenance. The completion of the building of the bridge, which started immediately to the designs of Rowland Mason Ordish, was severely delayed by the time taken for parliament to decide on the line to be followed by the Chelsea Embankment. After that decision had been taken the Company had to wait a couple of years before Ordish could be re-engaged to amend his designs to meet the new requirements. The final design included a 400 ft centre span with the roadway suspended by rods and cables from the towers at each end. An oddity of the cables is that they are not spun but each consists of 1,000 wires separately hung and then clamped by iron bands at 7 ft intervals. As a result of the delays, when the bridge was opened in 1873, the Company was: out of funds; had not been able to properly improve the approach roads; was required to make the bridge toll free in 1878; and was faced with a compulsory purchase by the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) immediately after that. Only in the last year was the toll income slightly above the Battersea Bridge maintenance costs and the Company had used all its £200,000 capital. The MBW paid the Albert Bridge Company £170,000.
The MBW spent ten's of thousands on the maintenance of the bridge and even then the allowed weight limit was reduced to 5 tons. Subsequently, in the care of the London County Council, the weight limit was reduced to two tons and a means had to be found for a drastic improvement in the situation. The method effected, for a reopening in 1973, was to construct two piers at the mid-point of the central span between which a sprung beam mounted on rubber dampers supports the roadway. At the same time the major refurbishment included a paint job which in the opinion of Geoffrey Phillips, the historian of Thames river crossings, means that 'Today, with its white and sand-coloured paintwork and its four toll-kiosks still in place, it has more the appearance of a seaside pier than a metropolitan bridge, but it does add variety to the river scene.'

O/S Co-ords:2740.7752
Source(s):

Thames Crossings. Bridges, Tunnels and Ferries