Museum of London / Henry Grant collection

A slender and elegant structure, 300 feet high, in steel and aluminium, internally illuminated at night and appearing to have ‘no visible means of support’, the Skylon amazed most who saw it. The competition to design a ‘vertical feature’ for the South Bank attracted nearly 200 entries and was won by architects Powell & Moya. Their design was realised by engineer Felix Samuely. Even before the Festival opened, the construction of the South Bank site attracted media and public interest.

Henry Grant (born 1907) worked extensively in London in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. His archive of 80,000 photographs was acquired by the Museum in 1986.