News / Architecture
New toll houses for Clifton Suspension Bridge
Three outdated toll houses on both sides of the Clifton Suspension Bridge are being replaced with new stone buildings, with work due to continue until the summer.
While the 1950s toll booths on the Clifton side will both be demolished, the original Victorian toll houses on the Leigh Woods side will be retained and refurbished, with the addition of a small new building replacing a 1950s structure.
Bridge master Trish Johnson said: “This is an exciting project that will both improve the setting of the bridge and provide better working conditions for our attendants, who do a fantastic job as curators of the bridge, round the clock and in all weathers.
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“The build will, however, be a challenging time for pedestrians and traffic. We will do everything we can to help minimise the impact on users and our neighbours during the construction period and ask everyone to bear with us over the coming months.”
The original toll houses on the Clifton side dating from 1864 were of an identical design to those located on the Leigh Woods side of the bridge
The Clifton toll houses were designed and built between 1958 and 1959 and house the staff facilities as well as acting as a toll house for the Clifton side of the bridge.
The first major milestone will be the demolition of the existing Clifton toll houses which is due to take place over the weekend of January 19 and 20.
This will involve the closure of the bridge to traffic and cyclists, but pedestrians will still be able to use the bridge.
The new toll houses are said to be of a “contemporary functional design that will provide all the facilities and requirements of the brief whilst also creating a more fitting and attractive approach to the bridge”.
The bridge as seen from the Leigh Woods side, with the two toll houses from 1864 designed by Hawkshaw and Barlow. Each toll house retains the stone gate posts which originally supported large gates to close the road bridge along with several examples of decorative ironwork, including two pairs of gates to each of the public walkways. The external finish of the toll houses is of high quality and the deep overhanging cornice and the use of pennant stone alludes to the design of the bridge piers. Furthermore, the Egyptian style ‘Cavetto’ cornice is a discreet reference to Brunel’s original design of 1831.
There are no plans to demolish or replace the two surviving houses, but as part of the 2019 renewal project the interiors will be refurbished, and roofs and stonework repaired. The new Leigh Woods operational toll house “is deliberately subservient to the original Victorian toll houses in terms of its position and height. The material palette mirrors that used on the Clifton houses, providing continuity and integrity across the bridge.”
Read more: This is what the Clifton Suspension Bridge could have looked like
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