The Queen's Walk

Walk with me along London's scenic South Bank promenade, taking in world-famous cultural landmarks and historic sights from County Hall all the way to Tower Bridge.

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1. County Hall

County Hall stands as a massive, sweeping curve of Portland stone along the South Bank of the River Thames. Designed by Ralph Knott, this grand Edwardian Baroque building opened in nineteen twenty-two to serve as the headquarters for…

2. London Eye

The London Eye is a massive, cantilevered observation wheel standing one hundred thirty-five meters tall on the South Bank of the River Thames. Its design features thirty-two glass capsules that rotate slowly over the water, allowing…

3. Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall sits on the south bank of the River Thames as a prominent, modernist structure defined by its clean lines and wide, open foyers. It opened on May third, nineteen fifty-one, as the primary permanent building for the…

4. BFI Southbank

BFI Southbank is tucked beneath the massive concrete arches of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. It serves as the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, housing four screens that show a revolving selection of classic,…

5. Oxo Tower Wharf Barge House Street

The Oxo Tower is distinguished by four sets of windows near its top, each featuring a circle, a cross, and a circle. These openings spell out the letters O-X-O on all four sides of the Art Deco tower, which rises nine stories above the…

6. Tate Modern

The Tate Modern is recognizable by its long, hulking brick exterior and the singular ninety-nine-meter chimney stack that rises from the center of its roofline. Located on the south bank of the River Thames, the building began as the…

7. Millennium Bridge

The Millennium Bridge is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians, stretching three hundred twenty-five meters across the River Thames. Its design is a slim, shallow span of steel that rests on cables positioned below the walking surface,…

8. Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe is an open-air, circular theatre defined by its white plaster walls and distinctive thatched roof, nestled along the south bank of the River Thames. This building is a reconstruction of the original Elizabethan…

9. The Clink Prison Museum

The Clink Prison Museum occupies the original site of one of England's oldest prisons, which opened in eleven forty-four. It served the Liberty of the Clink, a manor area owned by the powerful Bishop of Winchester rather than the reigning…

10. The Golden Hinde

The Golden Hinde is a full-size wooden replica of the sixteenth-century English galleon that Sir Francis Drake captained during his circumnavigation of the globe between fifteen seventy-seven and fifteen eighty. You can distinguish the…

11. Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral is distinguished by a crossing tower topped with spires and a long, cruciform layout of pointed Gothic arches. Situated near the south bank of the Thames, it has served as a place of worship for over a thousand years,…

12. Borough Market

Borough Market is recognizable by the heavy iron-and-glass roof structures that shelter rows of stalls beneath towering Victorian railway viaducts. Its history stretches back nearly one thousand years to the southern end of London Bridge,…

13. Hay's Galleria

Hay’s Galleria is defined by a massive glass roof that arches high above a central corridor, creating a wide, light-filled space where ships once unloaded their cargo. This structure sits on the south bank of the Thames, occupying what was…

14. HMS Belfast

HMS Belfast is a light cruiser permanently moored on the River Thames, characterized by her massive, grey steel hull and the towering tripod mast rising above her decks. Built by Harland and Wolff and launched on Saint Patrick’s Day in…

15. 110 The Queen's Walk

One hundred and ten The Queen’s Walk is defined by a distinct, rounded, glass-and-steel form that leans over the south bank of the River Thames. Designed by architect Norman Foster and completed in two thousand two, this structure served…

16. Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge is instantly recognizable by its two massive neo-Gothic towers that rise above the River Thames. These towers are connected by high-level walkways and a central roadway that splits and lifts to let ships pass. Built between…

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