On the east side, in Lambeth are Lambeth Palace, the Albert Embankment, and St Thomas's Hospital. The west side is near to the Palace of Westminster, Thames House, Millbank Tower and Tate Britain.
The current structure, a five-span steel arch design by Geoffrey Groves and opened on 12 July 1932 by King George V, carries four lanes of road traffic from a roundabout junction close northwards to another roundabout on the Embankment by its junction with Horseferry Road (the road name gives a clue to a previous crossing: a ferry operated on the site for some years). Obelisks at either end are surmounted by stone pineapples.
The previous structure was a suspension bridge, 828ft long, designed by Peter W. Barlow. Sanctioned by an Act of Parliament in 1860, it opened as a toll bridge in 1862 but doubts about its safety, coupled with its awkwardly steep approaches deterring horse-drawn traffic, meant it soon became used almost solely as a pedestrian crossing. It ceased to be a toll bridge in 1879 when the Metropolitan Board of Works assumed responsibility for its upkeep - it was by then severely corroded.History