A view of Westminster Bridge with figures and boats on the Thames

The first suggestions for a bridge at Westminster were made soon after the Restoration but were quashed by opposition from the City Corporation and the Thames watermen, who feared the loss of their livelihood. The growth of Westminster in the 18th century urgently increased the need for a bridge. Apart from taking a boat or using the horse ferry, anybody wanting to cross the bridge had to go round by Putney Bridge (which only opened in 1729), or use the overcrowded London Bridge. Finally, in 1738, the Swiss engineer Charles Labelye was appointed designer of the new bridge. The watermen were paid £25,000 in compensation, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who owned the horse ferry, received £21,025. After a temporary setback when one of the piers subsided in 1748, the bridge was finally opened to traffic in November 1750. Prominent in this view is Westminster Abbey which had been restored between 1698 amd 1723 when Sir Christopher Wren was Surveyor, and Hawksmoor's West Towers which had been completed in 1745.