Above: View of Tower Bridge using a high-power zoom from Elephant Stairs.
The view was taken taken on 20 April 2013 from a vantage point some distance down-river of Tower Bridge known as Elephant Stairs. At this point it is possible take a picture at right-angles to the alignment of the bridge itself.
Beside the Thames were many stairs, usually made of stone, which acted as points where watermen could gain access to the Thames. Many of the stairs acted as boarding points of passengers, from the 16th century onwards, to be rowed up- or down-river in small rowing boats called wherries. Many of the stairs remain in the same position that they occupied several centuries earlier. Why a set of stairs should be named after an elephant has never been explained.
As well as the view of Tower Bridge, we can also see the solitary office block (to the left of the bridge) called Centre Point. It is situated at the eastern end of Oxford Street. Looking through the centre of the bridge, the faint outline of the tall narrow structure is the BT Tower (also called Post Office Tower), behind Tottenham Court Road. In the centre of the bridge are the twin towers of the Victorian exterior of Cannon Street Station. The interesting collection of vessels towards the right are to be seen at Hermitage Moorings, at Wapping.
-ENDS-
Know Your London 
is this elephant, rotherhythe?
LikeLike
if so, maybe consider that Ivory Wharf was once at the end of it?
LikeLike
Yes, this is Elephant Stairs, Rotherhithe, at the end of Elephant Lane. There is no record of an Ivory Wharf in the area. The Ivory House was at St Katharine Docks and still bears that name today. So, I am afraid that the mystery continues.
LikeLike
interesting – what records have you been through and where? the name is in use now – is it just made up?
LikeLike
Its just a matter lot looking through the old maps – to be found at the Guildhall Library and some of then at John Harvard Library, Borough High Street.
LikeLike
I am a musician playing for English Country Dance and have been asked for “Elephant Stairs” published by Walsh in 1727 (I now have the score for the dance). I asked the Caller requesting same for the derivation of the name. He mentioned access to the river, although he thought Wapping rather than Rotherhithe. I have found Elephant Lane on Google maps; there seems to be no sign of Elephant Stairs in the modern era (although you mention the site in your photograph of Tower Bridge). I would be interested in any more information, please, just for a bit of background.
LikeLike
What an interesting story. I can certainly explain where Elephant Stairs is. The stairs are not there now but the next ones to the west – Prince’s Stairs – were rebuilt in concrete in the 1980s by the LDDC. I’ll send you details by email. The fact that somebody wrote a piece of music for Elephant Stairs is so unusual. Thanks for your response.
LikeLike