Ambition spills off the page in this slender technical drawing labeled “DESIGN No. 24,” one of the many competitive proposals submitted for a so‑called Great Tower for London during the 1890 inventions craze. The concept rises as a tapering lattice of ironwork, its crisscrossed bracing suggesting both modern engineering confidence and a desire to rival the era’s most daring skyward structures. Even in miniature, the silhouette reads like a statement piece meant to dominate a skyline and advertise progress to the world.
Look closely and you can trace the designer’s priorities: a broad, arched base that spreads the load, stacked platforms or galleries at intervals, and a compact crown that finishes in a spire. The drawing is spare but purposeful, the kind of presentation sheet built to persuade judges that the scheme was buildable, stable, and dramatic. At the bottom, the name “GORDON” appears with attribution to A. C. Cummings of Maygrove Road, Kilburn, London, anchoring this imaginative proposal in the everyday geography of the city it hoped to transform.
Taken together with the post’s theme—50+ competitive designs for a Great Tower for London—this image is a vivid reminder that late‑Victorian “inventions” weren’t only gadgets; they were visions of urban identity. These submitted tower designs reveal how engineers and dreamers used architectural drawings to compete for attention, investment, and prestige in a rapidly changing metropolis. For readers exploring London history, Victorian engineering, and unbuilt megastructures, this sheet offers a fascinating glimpse into a future that almost was.