Skylon (Festival of Britain)

The Skylon was a futuristic landmark that defined the 1951 Festival of Britain. It stood as a towering, cigar-shaped sculpture near the River Thames, reaching nearly three hundred feet into the air. Its design relied on a clever system of steel cables that made the massive structure appear to float fifty feet above the ground. Because the base had no obvious physical connection to the earth, the public often joked that the tower functioned just like the British economy of that time, having no visible means of support.