Architecture of London
London's architectural heritage involves many architectural styles from different historical periods. London's architectural eclecticism stems from its long history, continual redevelopment, destruction by the
After the
After a period of dramatic expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries, London reached its zenith as the world's largest and populous city from 1831 to 1925, becoming the capital of the British Empire at its greatest extent and power. In this period London sprawled vastly beyond its historical boundaries, absorbing many formerly rural settlements and creating vast suburbs. The city was further transformed by the Industrial Revolution as infrastructure projects like the West India Docks, the Regent's Canal, intercity railway termini like Paddington Station and the world's first underground railway system set London apart as the pre-eminent city of the industrial age. After suffering significant destruction during the Blitz of World War II and a period of economic decline in the post-war period, London is once again a global capital of culture and commerce, with much new development adding to its eclectic cityscape.
Throughout most of London's history, the height of buildings has been restricted. These restrictions gradually eroded in the post-war period (except those protecting certain views of St Paul's Cathedral). High rise buildings have become ever more numerous since, particularly in the 21st century. Skyscrapers are now numerous in the City of London financial district and Canary Wharf: a new financial district created in the 1980s and 90s in the former London docklands area of the Isle of Dogs. Recent tall buildings include the 1980s skyscraper Tower 42, the radical Lloyd's building by Richard Rogers, One Canada Square: the centre piece of the Canary Wharf district and 30 St Mary Axe (nicknamed the "Gherkin") which has set a precedent for other recent high-rise developments built in a similar high-tech style. Renzo Piano's The Shard completed in 2012 is the tallest building in London and for many years in the European Union, as well as the sixth-tallest building in Europe and the 96th-tallest building in the world[2][3][4]
Prehistoric
Although no pre-Roman settlement is known, there were prehistoric crossing points at Deptford and Vauxhall Bridge,[5] and some prehistoric remains are known from archaeology of the River Thames.[6] It is likely that the course of Watling Street follows a more ancient pathway. Ancient Welsh legend claims the city of the Trinovantes – dedicated to the god Lud (Caer Llud) – was founded by the followers of Brân the Blessed, whose severed head is said to be buried under the White Tower facing the continent.[7][page needed]
Roman London (60–500 CE)
The rectangular walled and gridded city was soon extended to the west over the
The Middle Ages (1066–1603)
Little remains of London's medieval architecture due to the city's near-complete destruction in The Great Fire of 1666 but a few scattered survivors, as well as other records, provide a vivid picture of the city in this period. In the Middle Ages, London lay predominantly within the boundaries of its Roman city walls – the area now known as The City of London – with Westminster being a separate smaller settlement to the west. By the 16th century there was moderate development outside the city walls – along river frontage of the Strand, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and in Smithfield[14] – and on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark, with London Bridge connecting the district to the rest of London. The earliest record of London bridge dates from the 10th century, a structure probably built of wood, but the best-known incarnation was constructed between 1176 and 1209. This was a stone bridge 900 ft wide with 19 arches, complete with its own street of shops, houses, a chapel and a drawbridge in the centre to allow large boat traffic to pass through.[15] With only one bridge, the river Thames was the main means of transportation within the city, as well as providing access to overseas trade by sea; many wharves and quays lined its north bank.
Norman and Gothic
Many of medieval London's most significant structures were initially constructed by the
Another significant London structure initially constructed by the Normans was Westminster Hall. Completed in 1097 in the reign of William II as a royal residence, the hall become the foundation of the Palace of Westminster, a complex which gradually expanded throughout the Middle Ages and eventually served as the home of England's parliament. The hall was radically altered in the reign of Richard II in the 14th century becoming the largest such hall in medieval Europe. In Richard II's expansion an exceptionally wide span hammerbeam roof was added, now considered a marvel of medieval engineering, while the Norman outer walls were retained with the addition of gothic windows.[18] Westminster Hall survives, having escaped the fire of 1834 which destroyed the majority of the medieval Palace of Westminster. It was incorporated into Barry and Pugin's neo-gothic Palace of Westminster; they admired its authentic gothic style. Other surviving examples of medieval halls in London can be found in Guildhall (1440) which once served as London's city hall (greatly altered after the great fire) and the Old Hall of Lincoln's Inn (1492) which retains its hammerbeam roof.
The Normans began the construction of Old St Paul's Cathedral on Ludgate Hill, replacing a primitive Saxon timber-framed building.[19] By the time of its completion in the 14th century the cathedral included elements of Gothic architecture, such as an ornate rose window at the east end, alongside the Romanesque nave constructed by the Normans. The cathedral was one of the largest and tallest churches in medieval Europe; at one point it was crowned by an exceptionally tall spire similar to that of Salisbury Cathedral which was about 158 m (518 ft) high, although this was destroyed after being hit by lightning in the 16th century.[20] The cathedral was latterly completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and replaced by Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral which retained the medieval cathedral's Latin cross layout.
London's other major church, Westminster Abbey, was first constructed in the reign of Edward the Confessor in the Romanesque style. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 13th century in the reign of Henry III, producing the building which largely survives today. The architecture of the abbey is reminiscent of French Cathedrals like Reims rather than the English Gothic of the period, leading to speculation that the master mason was French.[21] The most significant later addition to the abbey was the Henry VII Chapel. Built in the late 15th to early 16th century in late English Gothic style, it has an ornate fan vaulted ceiling. The twin-towered west front of the abbey was added in the 18th century to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, utilising a faithful Neo-Gothic style intended to be in keeping with the rest of the building. Other significant Gothic churches surviving from the Middle Ages include Southwark Cathedral: a former priory that was the first gothic church in London, Temple Church (13th century) a rare round Knights Templar church, as well as a few city churches that survived The Great Fire like St Andrew Undershaft, St Helen's Bishopsgate, St Olave's Hart Street and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
Tudor and vernacular
The
A significant development of Tudor architecture was the increased use of red brick, which became more readily available due to technical innovations in the late 15th century.
Stuart London: Inigo Jones and the rise of Classicism (1603–1666)
The early
"an architectural innovation that must have startled Londoners with its sophisticated Palladian Masonry, for its main façades containing rhythmical rows of tall windows, carved decorations and classical pilasters, all in mathematically, carefully proportioned precision, must have seemed to them like a stage set than a building."[20]
Another royal commission
Baroque London: The Great Fire and Christopher Wren's Reconstruction (1666–1714)
The Great Fire in 1666 destroyed almost 90% of the largely medieval city, including a total of 13,500 houses, 87 parish churches, 44
St Paul's Cathedral and The City Churches
The most striking architectural achievement of the new city was the reconstruction of St Paul's Cathedral and the City Churches by Christopher Wren, the preeminent architect of the
The 51 city churches (25 of which survive) designed by Wren and his team are of great architectural significance. Stylistically they are eclectic and inventive designs, often built on small and limiting sites. Their towers are the most architecturally inventive feature of their exteriors. Among the best are the unusual tiered spire of
"This apparent catastrophe [...] was in reality one of the best things that ever happened to London. [...] The Great Fire of London enabled a new start - mass housing, handsome paved streets with modern churches and public buildings. There was a new Royal Exchange, a new Cathedral, a rebuilt Guildhall. London now was cleaner, more modern and more uniform than any other city in Europe [...] and it remained so until the mid 19th century."[28]
Later architectural commissions
Christopher Wren, the preeminent architect of this period, was tasked with the design of two new military hospitals; the Royal Hospital Chelsea for army veterans completed in 1692, and the Greenwich Hospital (latterly known as the Old Royal Naval College) completed in 1712. Royal Hospital Chelsea is one of Wren's more restrained works, with its red brick facades resembling long residential terraces. It nonetheless has a fine chapel and great hall with decorative interiors. In contrast, Old Royal Naval College with its ornate Painted Hall, St Paul's Chapel and symmetrical east and west wings that frame Queens House by Inigo Jones is widely considered the crowning glory of the English Baroque movement. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the site is described as "the finest and most dramatically sited architectural ensemble and landscape ensemble in the British Isles."[31]
Other fine examples of English Baroque are the Commissioner's Churches, 12 highly original churches built in response to a 1710 act of Parliament requesting 50 new churches in London (the further 38 were not completed). The majority of these were designed by Wren's former assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. Hawksmoor is well known for his eccentric and idiosyncratic style that draws upon influences in Greek, Roman, Egyptian and even medieval architecture. Perhaps the most lauded and best known of these churches is Christ Church, Spitalfields (1729) which showcases his trademark blend of baroque and gothic, as well his tendency to create buildings with an imposing sense of monumentality. Other Commissioner's Churches such as St Mary-le-Strand by James Gibbs and St John's Smith Square by Thomas Archer are superlative examples of late English Baroque Architecture showing a much stronger European influence than the designs of Wren or Hawksmoor but with a distinctly English sensibility.
Georgian (1714–1811)
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The Georgian era (1714–1830) saw economic and colonial expansion as Britain emerged as a global trading power with London as its centre. This is reflected in London's growth in population. The city sprawled, with substantial new development in the west of the city such as Bloomsbury, Marylebone, Mayfair and Kensington, as well as in London's Satellite villages like Hampstead, Islington, Hackney and Dulwich.[22] This development was centred around the construction of terraces and fashionable new squares like Grosvenor Square, Portman Square and Bedford Square. These became the home of the burgeoning middle classes that emerged from Britain's new mercantile economy.[32] With the construction of new bridges across the Thames at Westminster (1750) and Blackfriars (1769), the first since the early Middle Ages, the city began to spread significantly south of the river.
The 'Georgian' style is the British interpretation of 18th-century neoclassical architecture, derived from Palladian architecture, particularly through the Scottish architect
The Georgian terraced house
Residential houses of this era in London are distinctive for their sunken basement built on brick arch foundations,
A typical Georgian house was designed to accommodate a single family, with front and back rooms on each floor and a partial-width rear 'closet' wing projection. The ground floor was reserved for business, the tall piano nobile for formal entertaining, and upper storeys with family bedrooms all accessed from a side stair. Servants were accommodated in the below-ground kitchen and in attic rooms in the roof. Each of the distinctions in function was subtly indicated in the decorative scheme of the façade by the sequential height of openings, projecting cornices and restrained decorative mouldings such as round-headed arches and rustication at the base and diminishing columns, sculptural capitals,
The Georgian townhouse
Georgian houses in London did not just come in the form of simple terraces. Many much more sumptuous homes known as
Georgian Church and Civic Architecture
Many civic, commercial and religious structures were built in the Georgian period. Churches of the Georgian period were still very heavily influenced by the work of Christopher Wren who had pioneered the use of classical architecture in church design in England with his City Churches. But with the declining popularity of the Baroque style, Georgian church design took a more restrained Palladian approach than Wren. St Martin-in-the-Fields (1722) by James Gibbs is an archetypal church of the period, a simple neoclassical 'temple church' with restrained Palladian ornament on its exterior and a tall spire that evokes Wren's City Churches.[40] Its format was much copied across England and abroad. Gibbs' St Peter, Vere Street (1722) is a further indicator of the increasing simplicity of church design in the 18th century.
Palladian architecture dominated civic architecture in Georgian London. This is exemplified by William Kent's Horse Guards on Whitehall (1750), an essay in austere Palladianism.[41] Arguably the most significant secular architectural commission of Georgian London was Somerset House, a collection of government offices on the Strand that was to replace a 16th-century house of the same name on the site. The resulting building was designed by William Chambers and completed in 1776. The building is in a quadrangle around a grand courtyard. On the south side of the exterior a grand terrace overlooks the River Thames, and at ground level a watergate that would have once faced directly onto the River Thames before the construction of the Victoria Embankment.
New bridges across the River Thames were built in the Georgian period; the first bridges built in London since the early Middle Ages. These bridges included Westminster Bridge in 1750, Blackfriars Bridge in 1769 and Richmond Bridge in 1777; all were built in a neoclassical style. With the exception of Richmond Bridge, all of these bridges have now been replaced. These were highly significant as London Bridge had been the only bridge across the river for over 500 years. Their construction greatly encouraged development south of the river.
Regency (1811–1837)
London has some of the finest examples from the late-Georgian phase of British architecture known as Regency. This is aesthetically distinct from early Georgian architecture, though it continues the stylistic trend of Neoclassicism. Technically the
The designs for the other Regent's Park terraces (Cornwall, Clarence and York) were entrusted to Decimus Burton, an architect who specialised in Greek Revival.[47][49] These terraces employ all the signature features of Regency Classicism: imposing, temple-like frontages covered in gleaming stucco with projecting porches, porticos with Corinthian or Ionic capitals, large pediments, and figural friezes extending along the upper part of the façades.[50] Burton's design for the Athenaeum Club (1830) on Pall Mall, whose sculptural frieze was modelled on the recently acquired Elgin Marbles in the British Museum, is another splendid example.[51] Close to the Athenaeum, Nash designed what has been called "London's finest Regency terrace", Carlton House Terrace (1829), on the site of Carlton House.[52] It had been demolished in 1826 after the new King, George IV, moved to Buckingham Palace, and Nash was employed to design the three-house terrace in his signature, rigidly Classical style: clad in stucco, with an imposing Corinthian portico, balconies, pediments, and Attic parapet, over a podium with squat Doric columns.[53]
Nash's most defining association was with the Prince Regent, his greatest patron. The most enduring legacy of this relationship is
Contemporaneous to Nash's building work in Regent's Park and St. James', the development of
The Regency period saw the construction of some of London's finest neoclassical churches, many of which are known as Commissioner's Churches. A Commissioners' church is an Anglican church built with money voted by Parliament via the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied a grant of money and established the Church Building Commission to direct its use, and in 1824 made a further grant. The First Parliamentary Grant for churches amounted to £1 million (equivalent to £73,550,000 in 2019). The Second Parliamentary Grant of 1824 amounted to an additional £500,000 (£44,320,000 in 2019). Commissioner's churches in London include All Souls, Langham Place by John Nash: its circular tower was deliberately placed on a bend on Nash's Regents Street to create a picturesque view from Oxford Circus, the fine neoclassical St Mary's, Bryanston Square by Robert Smirke and St Luke's, Chelsea one of London's first Gothic-revival churches: an early indication of the shift away from neoclassicism that followed later in the 19th century. Other fine Regency churches include St Pancras New Church (1822) by William and Henry Inwood: one of the most authentic Greek-revival church in London complete with a replica of the 'porch of the maidens' from the Erechtheion temple in Athens and St Marylebone Parish Church (1819) by Thomas Hardwick with a tower crowned with gilded angels.
Victorian (1837−1901)
Buildings from the Victorian era (1837–1901) and their diverse range of forms and ornamentation are the single largest group from any architectural period in London.[60] The Victorian era saw unprecedented urbanisation and growth in London, coinciding with Britain's ascendancy in the world economy and London's global pre-eminence as the first metropolis of the modern world. As the political centre of the world's largest Empire and the trading and financial hub of the Pax Britannica, London's architecture reflects the affluence of the period.
As London grew during the 19th century, the former compact, close proximity of different social classes in the City of London transformed into a taste for specially developed suburbs for specific classes of the population. This is reflected in styles of domestic and commercial architecture. Donald Olsen wrote in The Growth of Victorian London that "the shift from multi-purpose to single-purpose neighborhoods reflected the pervasive move towards professionalization and specialization in all aspects of nineteenth-century thought and activity."[61][citation needed]
Gothic Revival
The single most pervasive style of architecture was
Hallmarks of Gothic architecture are
The Industrial Revolution: railway and iron-framed architecture
The
Advancements in engineering during the industrial revolution made available the use of new building materials such as iron, enabling its use to build the first iron-framed structures in history. Iron beams afforded unprecedented span and height in new buildings, with the added advantage of being fireproof. The greatest embodiment of iron's possibilities was found in Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace, a 990,000-square-foot (9.2-hectare) exhibition hall made of cast iron and plate glass, which opened in 1851.[69] Before that, iron was already being used to gird the roofs of the King's Library in the British Museum, built between 1823 and 1827, the Reform Club (1837–1841), Travellers Club (1832), and the new Palace of Westminster.[70] The technological advancements pioneered with the Crystal Palace would be applied to the building of London's great railway termini in the latter half of the century: St. Pancras, Liverpool Street, Paddington, King's Cross, and Victoria.[71] King's Cross was a relative latecomer; built in 1851 to support incoming traffic for the Crystal Palace exhibition, its arched glass terminal sheds (each 71 ft (22 m) wide) were reinforced with laminated wooden ribs which were replaced in the 1870s with cast iron.[60] London Paddington had already set the model for train stations built with iron support piers and framework, when it was completed in 1854 to the designs of the greatest of Victorian engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.[72]
Victorian domestic styles
London's great expansion in the 19th Century was driven by housing growth to accommodate the rapidly expanding population of the city. The growth of road building and the railways in this period fueled the outward expansion of suburbs, as did a cultural impetus to escape the inner city, allowing the world's of 'work' and 'life' to be separate.
Early in the Victorian era, up to the 1840s houses were influenced by the classicism of Regency architecture. However, the simplicity of Regency classicism fell out of favour as affluence increased and by the 1850s the
Late Victorian revival styles
Although Victorian architecture is most closely associated with the Gothic Revival, many other
Perhaps the most unique new style to emerge in the late 19th century was the Arts and Crafts Movement. Somewhat mirroring and taking influence from The Art Nouveau style then prominent in Europe, the Arts and Crafts movement articulated itself as a reaction against the changes brought about by the industrial revolution, embracing traditional craftsmanship and decorative motifs inspired by romanticism, medievalism and nature. The most prolific architect of the style in London was Charles Harrison Townsend who designed the Horniman Museum (1900) and the Whitechapel Gallery (1900): two highly unique and unorthodox buildings described by Nicholaus Pevsner as "without question the most remarkable example of a reckless repudiation of tradition among English architects of the time"[77][page needed] This experimentalism of the Arts and Crafts Movement made it an important formative influence on Modernist Architecture in Britain during the early 20th century.
Perhaps the most significant development in the use of building materials in the late 19th century was the use of terracotta as a decorative appliqué on the outer facade of buildings.[78] Entire buildings were covered in elaborately moulded terracotta tiles, like the Natural History Museum (1880), the rebuilt Harrods department store (1895–1905), and the Prudential Assurance Building at Holborn Bars (1885–1901).[78] Terracotta was advantageous in that it was colourful and did not absorb the heavy air pollution of Victorian London, unlike brick and stone. As Ben Weinreb described terracotta's usage: "it found the greatest favour on the brasher, self-advertising types of building such as shops, theatres, pubs and the larger City offices."[78]
Despite the explosive growth of Victorian London and the scale of much of the building that had taken place, by the 1880s and 1890s there was an increasing belief that London's urban fabric was inferior to other European cities and unsuitable for the capital of the world's largest empire. There was little coherent urban planning in London during the Victorian era, apart from major infrastructure projects like the construction of the railways, Thames Embankment and Tower Bridge. Critics compared London to cities like Paris and Vienna, where state intervention and large scale demolition had created a more regular arrangement, with broad boulevards, panoramas and architectural uniformity. London was "visibly the bastion of private property rights", which accounted for the eclecticism of its buildings.[1] This motivated developments such as The Mall and Admiralty Arch in the Edwardian period, in an attempt to create an image of imperial splendour and pageantry.
Edwardian Architecture (1901–1914)
The dawn of the 20th century and the death of Queen Victoria (1901) saw a shift in architectural taste and a reaction against Victorianism. The popularity of Neoclassicism, dormant during the latter half of the 19th century, revived with the new styles of
The most impressive commercial buildings constructed during the Edwardian era include the
The popularity of terracotta for exterior cladding waned in favour of glazed ceramic tiles known as
The two most important architectural accomplishments in London during the Edwardian years were the building of Kingsway and the creation of an enormous processional route stretching from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral. A grand parade route for state pageantry, a common feature of European cities, was felt to be sadly lacking in London.
Kingsway, a 100-foot (30 m) wide boulevard with underground tram tunnel stretching north–south from the Strand to High Holborn, was the culmination of a
Steel
In the first decade of the 20th century, the use of steel to reinforce new buildings advanced tremendously.[93] Steel piers had been used in isolation to support the National Liberal Club (1886) and the rebuilt Harrods department store (1905). The extension of 1904–05 to the Savoy Hotel used steel framing for the whole construction, followed closely by the Ritz Hotel (1906); the latter gained popular reputation as the first building in London to be steel-framed.[94] The abundance of domes in the Edwardian period is partly attributable to steel girders, which made large domes lighter, cheaper to build, and easier to engineer.[80]
Selfridges on Oxford Street, modelled after American-style department stores, was the true watershed, because its size was unprecedented by British standards and far exceeded existing building regulations. To gain planning approval, Selfridge's architect Sven Bylander (the engineer responsible for the Ritz) worked closely with the London County Council (LCC) to update the LCC's woefully outdated regulations on the use of steel, dating back to 1844.[95][citation needed][94] In 1907 he gained approval for his plans, and by 1909, when Selfridges opened, the LCC passed the LCC (General Powers) Act (the Steel Act), which provided comprehensive guidelines for steel-framed buildings and a more streamlined process for gaining planning permission.[96][93] By this point, steel reinforcement was de rigueur in any sizable public or commercial building, as seen in the new buildings proliferating along Aldwych and Kingsway.
Art Deco & Interwar Architecture (1919–1939)
After the end of World War I, several outstanding building projects begun before 1914 were finally completed. The sombre mood and straitened financial circumstances of interwar Britain made the flamboyant Neo-Baroque style no longer suitable for new architecture. Instead, British architects turned back to the austere, clean lines of
Art Deco Architecture
Existing alongside the more prevalent Neo-Georgian and Neoclassical forms of architecture used in the capital in the 1920s and 1930s,
Two of London's finest examples of Art Deco architecture stand on
The erection of ultra-modern Deco buildings often came at the expense of older architectural gems, some irreplaceable. Along the Embankment two large Deco buildings were constructed which continue to dominate London's riverfront profile. The elegant Neoclassical
Arguably the most prolific Art Deco architect in London was Charles Holden, who received a large number of commissions by
Post-War Modernism and Brutalism (1945–1980)
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In
The 1951
London had attracted a select group of European modernists, some as refugees from Nazism, and the post-war era presented opportunities for many to express their unique visions for modernism. European architects of the era include
The British exponents of the internationalist movement were headed by
The postwar period saw the first commercial skyscrapers in London. These were typically built in the corporate
Postmodernism, High-Tech and High-Rise (1980-Present)
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Postmodern and High Tech
The late 1970s is considered to be a stylistic turning point in the history of architecture. Formed in reaction against the austere modernism which had dominated architectural design since the end of world war II, the postmodern school - which first expressed itself in the controversial book Learning from Las Vegas (1973) by Robert Venturi - was a movement that rejected minimalism by embracing irony, playfulness, pop culture and quoting historical styles in their buildings.[120] The result was an eccentric new style that couldn't be in starker contrast to the rigid post war consensus of the international style. London has some postmodern architecture, mostly from the 1990s. Robert Venturi's Salisbury Wing of the National Gallery (1991) is a postmodern historical pastiche, built of Portland stone and ironically imitating the neoclassical style to blend in with the older building. Two of the postmodern movement's most influential architects, Terry Farrell and James Stirling, were British and many of their works are in London. Farrell's SIS Building or MI6 Building (1996) in Vauxhall is a distinctive pyramidal design influenced by Maya and Aztec architecture. James Stirling's No.1 Poultry (1997) has been commended as a masterpiece of the postmodernist style; it was grade II* listed in 2016.[121] Its design incorporates a pink terracotta façade with equestrian sculptures and a clock tower resembling a submarine's conning tower. It replaced a neo-gothic building of the 19th century.
A splinter of the postmodern movement that became prominent in the 1990s is the
Contemporary high rise
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The NatWest Tower (now called Tower 42) was completed in 1980; at 183 metres (600 feet) and 42 storeys, it was considered the first "skyscraper" in the City of London. Its height was controversial, being contrary to the previous height restrictions; it was the tallest building in the United Kingdom at the time and the tallest cantilever building in the world. One Canada Square was completed in 1991 at 235 metres (771 feet) and formed the centrepiece of the Canary Wharf development. The development's main tower One Canada Square became the tallest building in the United Kingdom.
With the encouragement of
Another major skyscraper cluster has emerged in the Vauxhall and Nine Elms districts south of the river Thames. The first to appear here was the 2014 St George Wharf Tower at 181 metres (594 feet). The tallest tower planned for this cluster is the 200 metres (660 feet) One Nine Elms City Tower.
In 2019, Sadiq Khan blocked the construction of the 290 metre tall Tulip that would have been built in the City of London. However, the developers of the tower have appealed the decision.
See also
- List of tallest buildings and structures in London
- List of demolished buildings and structures in London
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Sources
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- Billings, Henrietta, Brutalist London Map, Blue Crow Media, 2015
Further reading
- Bevan, Robert (20 November 2023). "How Mansion Blocks Filled London With Stacks of Flats". Bloomberg.com.
External links
- Media related to Architecture of London at Wikimedia Commons
- Architecture of London From Archiseek.com
- Architecture of London Projects from Design Architecture Limited
- Brutalist Architecture in London from Blue crow media
- Art Deco Architecture in London from Blue crow media