Ambition rises straight off the page in this printed competition entry labeled “DESIGN No. 33,” a slender lattice tower that narrows toward a small crown-like platform at the top. The draughtsman’s hand favors crisp symmetry: a strong central shaft, stacked tiers, and a skeletal framework of repeating cross-braces meant to suggest both lightness and strength. Even without surrounding context, the proposal reads as a confident answer to the late‑Victorian hunger for engineering spectacle and skyline-defining monuments.
Look closely at the base and you can see how the designer imagined the structure meeting the ground—four flaring legs like buttresses, tied together by arches and braced trusses, creating a dramatic gateway beneath. The composition balances practicality and showmanship, hinting at public circulation through the lower openings while keeping the vertical thrust uninterrupted. It’s the kind of concept that would have competed in an era when steel construction, exhibition culture, and metropolitan pride were feeding a global race to build higher and bolder.
At the bottom of the sheet, the credited name “E. DUNCAN” appears alongside an address in Belsize Park, London, anchoring this dream of a “Great Tower for London” in the everyday world of offices, drawing boards, and posted submissions. As part of a collection boasting 50+ competitive designs, this single plate captures the inventiveness of 1890-era proposals—each one a fragment of a larger story about ideas that nearly reshaped the city. For readers interested in Victorian inventions, architectural history, and unbuilt London projects, it’s a fascinating glimpse of what might have been.