Princes Bridge

Original post 21 December 2020:

Did you know that Princes Bridge was the result of a competition? I didn’t ! It was held in 1879, and was won by Grainger & Jenkins. That was a local Mr Jenkins, and #JohnGrainger from Adelaide, who had only been in Australia one year, having had experience in bridges in the UK. It wasn’t started till 1884, and not finished till 1888. (Grainger went on to more bridges, then a long career in architecture here and in Perth, and his difficult marriage produced the famous musician Percy Grainger).

The 1879 articles about the bridge noted a similarity to Waterloo Bridge, London, but when it opened, that was corrected to Blackfriars Bridge, which it pretty much copies (last image). That was designed by Joseph Cubitt, finished in 1869. Now I’m wondering whether the huge bluestone piers , which I thought were all about floods, are just copies of the London version, made that way there for some other reason ? 1st image mine, 2nd and 3rd image Wikipedia, 4th I forget.

30 April 2024

Princes Bridge is undergoing some repair works to the bluestone – I thought it was generally such a hard stone it would last a forever, but apparently the flatter bits were ‘delaminating’, that is losing a top layer, due to moisture penetration, especially from the footpaths (which were waterproofed in 2019). But the pedestrian insets (above the piers, with the lamps on them), were also deteriorated, and are being completely replaced with new stone. Info and most photos thanks to @spoontzu via Facebook. First photo Wikipedia, 2nd last @theageaustralia showing Oli Clack whose company is leading the repairs. They’re also repainting the cast iron lamps and balustrades, though last done in 2006. I must add I don’t really like the slightly garish colour scheme of silver red and green, which dates from the 1920s. The original scheme was chocolate and cream and gilded highlights, something like the Clarice Becket painting of 1923, though that looks like pink and brown (last pic).