Sir John Wolfe-Barry (7 December 1836 – 22 January 1918) was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His most famous project was the construction of Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London.
Wolfe-Barry, the youngest son of architect Sir Charles Barry, added 'Wolfe' to his inherited name in 1898. He was educated at Glenalmond and King's College London, and was a pupil of civil engineer Sir John Hawkshaw, as was Henr...
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Sir John Wolfe-Barry (7 December 1836 – 22 January 1918) was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His most famous project was the construction of Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London.
Wolfe-Barry, the youngest son of architect Sir Charles Barry, added 'Wolfe' to his inherited name in 1898. He was educated at Glenalmond and King's College London, and was a pupil of civil engineer Sir John Hawkshaw, as was Henry Marc Brunel, son of the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Barry and Hawkshaw worked on railway bridge crossings across the Thames, among other projects (Brunel pursued his own business from 1871, but in 1878 went into partnership with Barry). Barry began his own practice in 1867, and carried out more work for the railways.
However, it was Tower Bridge that really made Wolfe-Barry's name. In 1878, architect Horace Jones first proposed a low-level bascule bridge. An Act of Parliament allowing the Corporation of the City of London to build it was...
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