Lincoln Memorial Tower - Architecture and Design

Architecture and Design

The original design by the architect E.C.Robins, developed in 1873, would have placed the tower and spire as an elevated structure above the centre of the new Congregational chapel. This was adapted in the final scheme by architects Paull and Bickerdike, who kept much of the original design and detailing of the building complex as a whole, but gave greater prominence to the Lincoln Tower. This became a stand-alone building with its own ground floor and entrances, though still integral to the complex. As more memorial funds were raised, the new architects, like E.C.Robins before them, added a lofty spire; raising the tower 200 feet high. The spectacular spire incorporated E.C.Robins' concept for an architectural version of 'stars and stripes' - the use of a polychromatic colour scheme of red and white stones.

On the Tower's north entrance, above the apex of a large archway, a stone was added bearing the title Lincoln Tower. Under the paved basement the coffin of preacher Rowland Hill was re-located from Surrey Chapel, with a tablet inset into the interior wall above. There was another tablet in memory of his successor, James Sherman, with a still larger tablet giving the name and purpose of the tower – to commemorate emancipation by the martyred Lincoln, the contribution of half the cost of the tower by American citizens, and as a pledge of international brotherhood.

The completed tower, built of Kentish Rag stone outside and Bath stone within, and modelled on a Gothic style, was widely regarded at the time as one of the best examples of steeple and tower architecture in south-central London.