Wender·Vista
London Bridge Lake Havasu
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileArizona
on the Colorado River, in the western Arizona desert

London Bridge Lake Havasu

— — the bridge that left London and kept walking.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The bridge that crossed the Thames for one hundred and thirty years now spans a desert channel in western Arizona. Robert McCulloch bought it in 1968, had each granite block numbered, shipped through the Panama Canal, and reassembled at the edge of his new town. The Cornish stone still carries the soot of London coal. Pelicans pass beneath it now.

from the studio
London Bridge Lake Havasu
— bring it home

London Bridge Lake Havasu, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about London Bridge Lake Havasu

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

London Bridge stands at the eastern edge of Lake Havasu City, spanning the Bridgewater Channel between the mainland and a small island in the Colorado River. Robert P. McCulloch, the chainsaw magnate who founded the town in 1963, purchased the bridge from the City of London in April 1968 for $2,460,000. It was dismantled stone by stone, shipped through the Panama Canal, trucked from Long Beach to the Arizona desert, and dedicated on October 10, 1971.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

The granite is Cornish, quarried in the 1820s for John Rennie's Thames bridge of 1831. Each of the roughly ten thousand exterior blocks was numbered before disassembly so the facing could be rebuilt true to its original face. The interior is a modern reinforced concrete spine; only the skin came across. On the upstream side the stone still carries the dark wash of a century of London coal smoke.

— informed by Lake Havasu City history
— the visit

The bridge is open at all hours and free to cross on foot or by car. English Village, a small shopping district built around the bridge's base, sits at the western abutment with cafes and the visitor centre. Boats pass under the central span from the marina out to the open lake. The annual Bridge Day each October marks the dedication; the rest of the year traffic is steady but unhurried.

— informed by Go Lake Havasu
— where
United States · Lake Havasu City, Mohave County, Arizona
— elevation
147 m · 482 ft
— position
34.4673° N · 114.3469° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
3 km N
Lake Havasu State Park
state park
55 km S
Parker Dam
dam
N
London Bridge Lake Havasu
Lake Havasu State Park
Parker Dam
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about London Bridge Lake Havasu — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Yes, the exterior granite is from John Rennie's 1831 Thames bridge. The City of London sold it in 1968 when a new bridge replaced it. The facing stones were reassembled in Arizona over a modern concrete core.

Robert P. McCulloch, founder of Lake Havasu City, bought the bridge in April 1968 for $2,460,000. He was looking for a centrepiece to draw visitors to the new town he had laid out on the Colorado River five years earlier.

The reconstructed bridge was dedicated on October 10, 1971, after three years of dismantling, shipping through the Panama Canal, and reassembly. A channel was then dredged beneath it to create the Bridgewater Channel.

It spans the Bridgewater Channel, a man-made cut between the Lake Havasu City mainland and a peninsula that became an island once the channel was dug under the rebuilt bridge. The water is part of the Colorado River reservoir.

Yes. Pedestrian walkways run along both sides of the bridge and are open at all hours with no fee. The roadway carries two lanes of local traffic between the town and the island side.

— about the piece in your home

It often is. The granite they remember from the Thames now spans a desert channel, and the piece tells that story in one image. A Medium or Large reads well in a study or entryway.

The piece sits well with desert-modern, southwestern, and warm transitional rooms. The terracotta and slate tones in the stone carry across to leather, oak, and unglazed pottery.

A single Large carries a six-foot sofa. Above an eight-foot sofa or a long console, a four-tile Mural opens the bridge across the wall; a nine-tile Mural is for a feature wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and stand up to humidity and steam, which makes them suited to backsplashes, shower surrounds, and powder rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water. No solvents, no abrasive pads. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and lives in the surface, not on top of it.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio's own visual language by Reid Wender and finished in Knoxville, Tennessee. The work is not licensed from anyone and is not sold through any other shop.

— if this one stayed with you

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