The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, is one of the City’s modern icons. Popularly known as the Cheese Grater, due to its wedge shape, the 225m tower was completed in 2014. Designed by Richard Rogers, the shape is designed to minimise the impact on the skyline around St Paul’s, and the steel and glass structure allows extraordinary passage of light at the end of the day.
The building backs on to Undershaft, from where I took this extreme wide angle shot. The feeling that the other buildings are crowding in, oppressively, is countered by the brilliance and colour of the light passing through the Leadenhall Wedge.
At the centre of the cross that is Leadenhall Market. Roofed in 1881, the market dates back to the 14th Century. It has been used in many films, including some of the Harry Potter sequence where it represented the area near Diagon Alley. The market is known for fresh food stalls, with shops selling fine wines and delicatessen.
At the centre of the cross that is Leadenhall Market. Roofed in 1881, the market dates back to the 14th Century. It has been used in many films, including some of the Harry Potter sequence where it represented the area near Diagon Alley. The market is known for fresh food stalls, with shops selling fine wines and delicatessen.
A sunset view of the City and South Bank financial heart of London from my local park - Ruskin Park in Camberwell. From here the Guys Hospital and the Shard look as if they are part of the same complex of buildings with the great Bishopsgate and Leadenhall skyscrapers. I love the way a diagonal line leads up from the Gherkin and the Scalpel all the way to the top of the Shard. The old National Westminster Twer, once so dominant, is now dwarfed.
Richard Rogers' Lloyd's Building may not be the largest block in the City of London, but it certainly deserves the epithet 'iconic'. Given listed status (Grade I) 25 years after its completion it is probably the most instantly recognisable after the Shard and one of the UK's most controversial buildings. The "Inside Out" design has had its problems; never very practical, the air-conditioning used to alternately roast and freeze the occupants who, apparently, also had to contend with the smell (or worse) of leaking sewage from the toilets. I believe that these issues have been ironed out. And I have to admit, I love that shocking facade.
