Dr.Pepper-
That British couple wasn’t entirely off-base, but they were probably confusing two separate stories.
The old London Bridge was disassembled and shipped in pieces to the U.S.
It was reassembled, and now stands in the Arizona desert as a tourist attraction.
John Roebling was German born, but was living in the U.S. for quite a while when the Brooklyn Bridge was designed.
He died before its construction started, and his son, Washington, took over.
Washington Roebling was disabled by the bends early in the bridge’s construction, and the majority of the work was overseen by Washington’s wife.
The bridge is actually overbuilt – the diagonal suspension cables that descend from the towers to the bridge’s deck aren’t needed, but they were added because of fears that the vertical cables which descend from the four main suspension cables wouldn’t provide enough support.
I read somewhere (don’t remember where) that this is the only suspension bridge with both vertical and diagonal cables.
The bridge used to carry both trolley and subway traffic, but the tracks were removed in 1940.
=======================================
On Chol Hamoed Sukos, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge.
We noticed the building you described with the “curved walls”.
It’s quite striking – it looks like melting wax or chocolate flowing.