The London Bridge we all know from the nursery rhyme was originally a timber structure built, and subsequently rebuilt many times, by the city’s Roman founders as the sole crossing over the River Thames. It was replaced in medieval times and again in the 19th century as methods of construction changed. In 1968 the John Rennie–designed masonry London Bridge, built in 1831, was disassembled stone by stone and reconstructed in Arizona; it was replaced by the current structure, which opened in 1973. Today there are more than 30 bridges that weave a tapestry across the Thames, each created in response to industrialization, various monarchies, and the capital city’s explosive growth.

Click to join Terry Oliver, environment manager of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and me on a west-to-east voyage down the Thames as we visit 11 of our favorite crossings.

More on archdigesom:

Tour the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, by 18th century architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux

Visit Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, the original glass house