3-101-838 - Ware in the World/Heritage Images

Shot Tower and Royal Festival Hall, London, c1951. View from the Thames. The Shot Tower, designed for the production of small-diameter shot balls by free fall of molten lead, was built in 1826 for Thomas Maltby & Co and operated until 1949. In 1950 the gallery chamber at the top was removed and a steel-framed superstructure was added, providing a radio beacon for the Festival of Britain held in 1951. The tower was the only existing building to be retained on the site for the Festival. It was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which opened in 1967. The Royal Festival Hall was designed by Leslie Martin, Peter Moro and Robert Matthew from London County Council's Architecture Department, as part of the South Bank development built for the Festival of Britain.