Where’s the Gerkin?
Remember when Prince Charles changed the building height rules in London, and suddenly an enormous, often-despised, pickle-like structure dominated the London skyline?
Well, today, the Gerkin has been joined by a canned ham, a walkie-talkie, a cheese-grater, the Shard, and many other testaments to man’s desire to reach the heavens in glass structures that scrape the sky. In fact, the Gerkin is almost lost along the skyline. (You can see it peaking out behind the Cheese-Grater.)
The Walkie-Talkie is currently visible from numerous angles:
These are glorious structures, and some have granted London new icon status, such as the London Eye.
But I, for one, long for the old London, where Westminster and Big Ben dominated the skyline, and where London’s famous landmarks stood out as you walked or boated along the Thames.
All are still there, in their original glory, but you have to look among the forest of cranes to find some of them these days.
(Big Ben, below, is sheathed for reconstruction.)
It has ever been thus, I know. Time does not stand still. Nevertheless, I hate to see London lose its uniqueness amid the thrust of modernity and become just another city of massive, soulless, glass construction.
London, I love you. Please, stay charming!
Just about ripe for a new Great Fire to sweep away these monstrosities….but I have no great hopes of a Wren or Hawksmoor arising from the current crop of architects.
I actually find some of the buildings quite beautiful, better than the Tito-era concrete monstrosities of an earlier era, but there are just too darn many of them, and why must they be built so high? It strikes me as ridiculous. And the growth in “north Greenwich” is horrifying, especially when you consider that, reportedly, most of the buildings aren’t even occupied, but are purchased by the world’s rich simply so they’ll have a London address to add to their collection. Most of the flats can be rented on the cheap from Airbnb and are never otherwise occupied. Build it and they will come … my great Aunt Fanny!
Now I don;t like them at all, any more than I liked the concrete brutalist stuff…but very much with you on the expensive and unoccupied flats. Sincerely hope that the developers go bust.
I totally agree. Its a shame that the historic buildings of London have all disappeared below these new superstructures.
Jonno, it runs the risk of becoming just “another” megacity. Too bad.