{"id":20392,"date":"2018-10-09T17:26:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T16:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=20392"},"modified":"2018-10-09T17:26:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T16:26:45","slug":"ihbcs-heritage-from-the-global-doorstep-bbc-on-the-bridge-that-crossed-an-ocean-insights-from-history-for-a-new-age-of-asset-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=20392","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s \u2018Heritage from the (global) doorstep\u2019: BBC on \u2018The bridge that crossed an ocean\u2019 \u2013 Insights from history for a new age of \u2018asset transfer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"person<\/a>The BBC documentary on Robert Paxton McCullagh\u2019s purchase, disassembly and reconstruction of London Bridge as part of the creation of Huavasa City offers very human insights to the power of heritage – to educate, inspire and confuse \u2013 and its write-up offers many insights in the new age of \u2018asset transfer\u2019.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

The BBC writes:<\/p>\n

The Bridge House Estates committee of the City of London Common Council had known for some time London Bridge was sinking further into the River Thames with every passing rush hour. Horse-drawn carriages had long since made way for cars and double-decker buses and, over the years, the structure had been hammered deeper into the riverbed. The obvious solution to members in 1965 was to demolish it and start again; build a new bridge, for a new era of commuters.<\/p>\n

Former newspaper and PR man Ivan Luckin had other ideas. \u2018He thought it was all very well knocking it down, but what about its future?\u2019 says former councillor Archie Galloway. That\u2019s when Ivan made his move.\u2019 He said to the committee, \u2018we ought to sell it\u2019. \u2018A lot of eyebrows went up at that.\u2019 Luckin wanted to go a step further and advertise in the United States, where he felt certain someone would be interested in buying a well-known London landmark. News of the sale was soon the subject of newspaper and TV reports trotting out the inevitable line that London Bridge \u2018was falling down\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n

It was the potential that inspired McCulloch and his business partner, Cornelius Vanderbilt \u2018CV\u2019 Wood, who was known for designing Disneyland in California. Stories about how the pair got wind of the sale vary. Luckin\u2019s perseverance paid off. With nowhere to test his boat engines in land-locked eastern California, he hopped over the border into Arizona in search of water. The story goes that it was from the air that McCulloch spotted the ribbon of Havasu\u2019s lake below, snaking through a parcel of land flanked by the Chemehuevi, Whipple and Mojave Mountains\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 The first stone arrived in Lake Havasu on 9 July 1968. About 10,600 stones arrived in Lake Havasu, making the final leg of the journey by road on flatbed trucks. The cornerstone was laid on 23 September 1968 in a ceremony attended by London\u2019s lord mayor. Then work to resurrect the bridge began, starting with the arches, which were laid across the sand. The rest was built around the framework in reinforced concrete. To avoid the sinking fate of its 133,000-tonne predecessor, it was made hollow and finished with a veneer of stone, making it 33,000 tonnes. The stones were manoeuvred in by hand and secured with pins, wire and concrete. The work was slow and laborious – crews had to force the 400-500lb pieces in one at a time. Once the bridge was up, the dunes were sucked out of the arches to make way for the president-approved channel. The land underneath the structure was dredged, allowing London Bridge to tower above a waterway for the first time since it had left Britain.<\/p>\n

On 10 October 1971, Lake Havasu\u2019s London Bridge opened to great fanfare. That a sinking bridge in London would be the making of a city in Arizona is a testament to McCulloch. But that it became such a success is down to boldness, determination and belief – a reflection, perhaps, of the American spirit.<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBC documentary on Robert Paxton McCullagh\u2019s purchase, disassembly and reconstruction of London Bridge as part of the creation of Huavasa City offers very human insights to the power of heritage – to educate, inspire and confuse \u2013 and its … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20394,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20392\/revisions\/20394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}