Peterson's madness - Sway Tower: a 14-story oddity and the world's tallest structure made of unreinforced concrete (12 photos)

On the outskirts of the village of Sway, near Lymington on the south coast of England, stands a strange Victorian tower.





The pencil-thin rectangular structure soars into the sky to a height of more than 60 meters and ends in an elegant rotunda. Next to it is a hexagonal turret with a spiral staircase leading up to all fourteen floors - right up to the very top.



Sway Tower is a folly, an architectural whim, a building without practical meaning. For more than a hundred years, no one lived in it except pigeons, until half a century ago, when it was converted into a residential building. But the most amazing thing is that this entire concrete colossus does not have a single gram of iron reinforcement. It is the first unreinforced concrete structure in Britain and is still the tallest in the world.

The Ghost of Sir Christopher Wren and the Dream of a Judge





The tower was built in the 1880s at the whim of a retired Calcutta High Court judge, Andrew Thomas Turton Peterson. Returning from India, where he became interested in spiritualism, the ex-judge was inspired to build something grandiose. It was rumored that through a medium, Peterson communicated with the spirit of Sir Christopher Wren himself, the famous architect of London's St. Paul's Cathedral, and that he blessed him to build this crazy tower.



Peterson was a kind man: he hired only poor people, giving work to more than forty people over six years (1879–1885). He paid decent money and even built houses for the poor on his land. In the end, the tower cost him 30,000 pounds — a fortune at the time.

A Concrete Giant: From a Dovecote to an Elite Home



The tower is 66 meters high, and its base is a square with a side of 5.5 meters. The foundation goes 2.7 meters deep. The thickness of the concrete walls at the base is 60 centimeters, but as they rise they narrow and are only 30 centimeters on the upper floors. The spiral staircase is hidden in a separate octagonal extension.



Peterson dreamed of installing a lighthouse on the top, but the authorities refused - the light could knock ships off course. But his second wish came true: the judge bequeathed to turn the tower into his tomb. This happened in 1906, but in 1957 his remains were moved to the local cemetery, where his wife was buried.



In 1973, the tower was bought by Paul and Julie Atlas. At that time, it was a dilapidated building teeming with pigeons, and on the seventh floor there were tons of sand - it was poured during the war to protect against enemy aircraft. Paul removed almost 18 tons of bird droppings, first arranging a workshop there, then a guest house, and eventually turning the tower into a family nest.



In 2018, it was put up for sale for 3.5 million pounds, but later the price was reduced to 1.6. Now there is no lot, and the fate of the tower remains a mystery.



Will it remain privately owned or open to the public? Time will tell. But one thing is clear: this concrete giant, born of a whim, continues to excite the imagination.