Waterloo Bridge

The following images were taken from Waterloo Bridge over the span of more than ten years, and are intended to give a glimpse of how the London skyline had changed over this period. This includes a number of tall buildings in the City of London but also across the river in Southwark.

The first photo was taken on 4 April 2009: Few new towers had emerged on the skyline since the completion of the Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) by Norman Foster in 2003, but several high-rises from the 60s and 70s had recently been demolished to pave the way for a new generation of towers. Also, the Willis Building in Lime Street had been completed to a design by Foster in 2008 and the concrete-clad Stock Exchange Tower by Trollope and Colls from 1972 had been refaced with a glass curtain wall in the same year. 

The tallest building in the City was still Tower 42 from 1971-80 by Richard Seifert, which was also London's tallest until the completion of One Canada Square at Canary Wharf in 1990 (seen in the distance). The tower on the other side of the river, also by Seifert, was completed in 1972 and was still known as King's Reach Tower in 2009.

The next photo was taken in 2011, shortly after the completion of Heron Tower, where construction had been ongoing since 2007. The tower was originally intended at the same height as Tower 42, at 183 metres, and the two towers almost appear as twins from this angle despite the Heron Tower eventually being extended to 202 metres to the roof and 230 metres to the tip of the antenna. The design was by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox.

Just to the left of King's Reach Tower in Southwark can be seen the rising core of what was to become the tallest building in London. The Shard or London Bridge Tower had been under construction since March 2009.

The Shard was nearing completion by early 2012 while a new tower was already making its mark on the skyline. Construction of 20 Fenchurch Street, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, had begun in January 2009 to a design by architect Rafael Vinoly. It replaced a 91-metre tower from 1968 by William Rogers, which had been demolished in 2008.

The demolition of Bucklersbury House from 1954-58 by architects Owen-Campbell Jones and Sons also opened up a better view of the Rothschild Building by Rem Koolhaas, which was completed in 2010. Also part of this cluster of mini-towers are the Willis Building and the former headquarters of Barclays Bank (1990-94) by GMW architects.

The 306-metre Shard was completed in July 2012, roughly 12 years after entrepreneur Irvine Sellar met with architect Renzo Piano to discuss the redevelopment of the site, then occupied by the high-rise Southwark Towers from 1975. By 3 November 2012, a new tower was also becoming visible as part of the City cluster, the Cheesegrater.

The Cheesegrater, also known as 122 Leadenhall Street, had just been completed when this photo was taken on 12 July 2014, only two months after the completion of the Walkie Talkie. The former was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners and replaced a previous high-rise from 1969, which had been demolished in 2008. The King's Reach Tower had been renamed the South Bank Tower in 2013 and plans were approved to extend the tower from 111 metres to 155 to a new design by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The revamp of the South Bank Tower had been completed in 2015, while the new tower One Blackfriars was beginning to impact the Southwark skyline when this photo was taken on 16 May 2016. Designed by SimpsonHaugh and Partners, the tower was scheduled for completion in 2018, at a height of 163 metres. The 90-metre 240 Blackfriars was completed across the road in 2014 by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

The glass cladding on One Blackfriars was starting to come along when this photo was taken on 8 January 2017. Another core had also started to rise in the City on the other side of the river. This is 52-42 Lime Street, nicknamed the Scalpel and built to a design by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The last in the series was taken on 10 July 2019. One Blackfriars on the South Bank had been completed for some time. The cluster of towers in the City is now dominated by 22 Bishopsgate, a 278-metre tower which began construction in late 2016. Demolition at the site began already in 2007 and the plan at that time was to build a 288m tower named the Pinnacle. This scheme was abandoned in 2013 and the site was re-sold. PLP Architects designed the new tower that was actually built.

Westminster

The Jewel Tower was built in 1365-66 as part of the royal palace of Westminster. It was built to house the personal treasure of Edward III and continued to be used as a treasury until the royal palace was moved to Whitehall in 1512. It was used to house parliamentary records in the 17th and 18th centuries and some building work was completed during that period. The tower was originally crenellated and surrounded with a moat. Its one of the few vestiges of the palace of Westminster that existed before the fire of 1834.

The Henry VII's Chapel was built from 1503 to about 1512 and replaced a previous Lady Chapel from 1220 at the east end of Westminster Abbey. The design may have been by brothers Robert and William Vertue, who specialised in fan vault ceilings and had worked as masons on Westminster Abbey. They were also involved in projects at Bath Abbey, Greenwich Palace and St. George's Chapel in Windsor. Another possibility for the design is a royal master mason named Robert Janyns the younger, who also worked at Windsor Castle and Richmond Palace.

The tomb of Henry VII from 1512-18 by Florentine sculptor Pietro Torrigiano is considered one of the first renaissance designs in England. Torrigiano also built an altar, retable and canopy for the chapel, and fragments of this work remain though much of it was destroyed by puritans in the 17th century.

Ashburnham House was built in the 1660s, incorporating the remains of the old Prior's house of Westminster Abbey and the monks' refectory, where the House of Commons met in the 13th century. The design of the house has been attributed to Inigo Jones or his pupil John Webb, but the architect is now more commonly believed to have been William Samwell. The house has been property of Westminster School since 1882 and is located in Little Dean's Yard, which is a private gated yard. 

Russell Square

The Duke of Bedford was authorised by Parliament in 1800 to develop his estate, and the developer James Burton soon became involved in the scheme. The first stage was to demolish Bedford House, a 17th-century mansion which fronted Bloomsbury Square, and replace it with two rows of terrace houses on each side of a street named Bedford Place. To the north was laid out a new square in 1800-17 called Russel Square, taking its name after the duke's surname.

Few of the original buildings remain and many of the ones that have survived are much altered in appearance, but the houses in the southwest corner of the square give a flavour of the style during Burton's time.  

James Burton had already taken part in the development of the Foundling estate to the north-east, where he had built almost 600 houses, and a piece of land leased from the Skinner's company where Burton Crescent was created, later to be renamed Cartwright Crescent.    

The houses on the south of Russel Square has been overlaid with Victorian terracotta, but its recorded that Burton originally had the western fronts decorated with thin Ionic pilasters and a pediment, apparently inspired by Bedford Square.  In the back can be seen Imperial Hotel, which in the 1960s replaced a hotel designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll in 1911-13. This had originally been the site of Bolton House, which was built in 1759-63, probably by John Vardy. Fitzroy Doll is also responsible for Russel Hotel from 1898, which still stands in the northeastern corner of the square, 

City of London Churches

St Helens Bishopgate dates from around 1210 when it was built as part of a Benedictine priory. One of the twin naves belonged to the priory nuns, the other to parishioners. Two doorcases in classical style were added in the 17th century. The last monastic buildings, which the church had belonged to, were demolished in 1799. The church was heavily restored in 1891-93 and again the 1990s due to bomb damage from an IRA attack in 1992-93.

All that remains of All Hallows Staining is a tower from around 1320. The church collapsed in 1671,  not due to the fire of 1666, but probably because the foundations had been weakened by too many burials close to the church walls. It was rebuilt in 1674 but the main body of the church was demolished in 1870 when the parish was joined to St Olave Hart Street. The first record of a church on this site is from the late 12th century. The word Staining refers to the fact that the church was built in stone at a time when many churches were still built in wood. 

St Ethelburga Bishopsgate was built around 1411 on the site of a previous church of unknown origin that was first recorded in 1250. The facade was partially covered with a wooden porch housing shops in the 16th century and a bell turret was added in 1775. The shops were removed when Bishopsgate was widened in 1932. The church was damaged during the blitz and restored after the war. Further damage was inflicted by an IRA bomb blast in 1993 prompting further restoration.

St Olave Hart Street was built around 1450, following two previous rebuilding campaigns in the 13th and 15th centuries. The first stone church on the site is probably from the 13th century and was recorded as St Olave Towards the Tower. The central tower in brick was added in 1732, while the entrance arch to the churchyard is from 1658. The church was destroyed in the blitz but was rebuilt and reopened in 1954. 

The present St Andrew Undershaft was built around 1532, replacing a previous church from the 14th century. The first church on the site was probably built in the 12th century and was first recorded in 1147. The name Undershaft is thought to refer to a Maypole that was set up opposite the church every year.

St Katharine Cree was built in 1628-30, but retains a somewhat medieval look due to the tower, which dates from 1504 and which was kept when the church was rebuilt. The parish originally used the church of the Augustinian Holy Trinity Priory and a separate church for the parishioners was only created in 1280. 

The entrance arch to the churchyard of St Olave Hart Street was built in 1658 and is decorated with grinning skulls. It is mentioned in Charles Dickens' Uncommercial Traveller.

St Dunstan in the East was among the churches that were patched up rather than built anew after the fire in 1666. The new elements were designed in gothic style in order to blend with the retained fabric of the old church. The repaired structure was reopened in 1671 and the steeple by Christopher Wren was added in 1695-1701. In 1817, it was decided to completely rebuild the nave due to structural weakness. however, only the outer walls remain from this rebuilding effort as it was decided to leave the church as a ruin after WWII. The original church was first built in 1100.  

The church of St Augustine Watling Street was rebuilt after the fire in 1666 to a design by Christopher Wren. It was completed in 1683 but the steeple wasn't finished before 1695. The church was destroyed by bombing in 1941 but the tower was restored in 1954. The earliest record of a church on this site is from 1148. It was enlarged in 1252-53 and and had been rebuilt little more than 30 years before the great fire.  

St Margaret Pattens was built after the old structure was destroyed in the fire of 1666 to a design by Christopher Wren. It was completed in 1687. The first record of a church on the site is from 1067 while a later church was demolished in 1530 and replaced with a new-build in 1538.

St Michael Paternoster Royal was one of the last of the 51 churches to be rebuilt after the London fire of 1666.  Construction began in 1685, was interrupted due to the revolution in 1688 and was finally completed in 1694. The steeple was completed in 1713-17. Only the walls and tower survived the blitz and a number of 19th-century renovations were wiped out. The rebuilding was completed in 1966-68. The earliest record of a church on this site is from 1219.

St Mary Somerset was one of the last churches to be rebuilt after the great fire of London. Work began in 1686 and was completed in 1694 after construction slowed down due to a lack of funds. It was one of only two churches that depended on funds from the coal tax to be completed. The parish was combined with St Mary Mounthaw, a nearby church that was not rebuilt after the fire. The church was demolished in 1871 but the tower was preserved. The earliest church on the site was first recorded in the 12th century. The pinnacles of the tower have been attributed to Nicholas Hawksmoor    on stylistic grounds.

At Ludgate, we find the church of St. Martin within Ludgate. The present structure was built by Christopher Wren during the reconstruction of the city after 1666. A plaque at the entrance explains that the first church here was built some 1,300 years ago by a King Cadwal, whose crypt is supposed to be somewhere under the church. There is also a plaque next to the church marking the former site of Ludgate, one of the ancient gates to the city.

Christchurch Greyfriars was destroyed in the blitz and the nave was converted into a park. A plaque nearby explains that a Franciscan priory called Greyfriars used to exist around here until it was swept away by the reformation. The medieval church was destroyed in 1666 and replaced with a new design by Christopher Wren.

 St Botolph without Aldersgate: A church has stood on this site for almost one thousand years. The church survived the fire of 1666 but was demolished because it had become unsafe to use. The present building dates to 1788-91 and was designed by Nathaniel Wright.

London

The London Wall was originally built by the Romans in the late 2nd century in order to defend the city of Londinium against attackers. It fell into disrepair during the Saxon period but was rebuilt and refortified during the middle ages. The gates were later maintained for the purpose of levying taxes on goods coming into the city and the wall was only fully demolished in the 18th century. Many parts of the wall were incorporated into new buildings over the years. The wall ran a C-shaped course around the city starting in the west at Blackfriars and ending at the Tower.  

The most substantial wall remnant is at Tower hill, next to the Tower of London. There stands a replica of a Roman statue, thought to represent Emperor Trajan. You will also find here a replica of a tombstone that was found embedded in the wall, dedicated to Julius Classicianus, a Roman Provincial procurator.

The plaque on this site reads:

This impressive section of the wall still stands to a height of 10,6m. the Roman work survives to the level of the sentry walk, 4,4m high, with medieval stonework above. The wall was constructed with coursed blocks of ragstone with sandwiched rubble and mortar core. Layers of flat red tiles were used at intervals to give extra strength and stability. Complete with its battlements the Roman Wall would have been about 6,3 meters high. Outside the wall was a defensive ditch.

To the north is one of the towers added to the outside of the wall in the 4th century. In the mediavel period the defences were repaired and heightened. The stonework was more irregular with a sentry walk only 0,9m wide. To the west was the site of the Tower Hill scaffold where many famous prisoners were publicly beheaded, the last in 1747.

The pub The Black Friar, on the corner of Queen Victoria Street and New Bridge Street, was redesigned to its present look around 1905 by H. Fuller Clark in a combination of Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts.

Blackfriars Station is just across the road. Originally, the train station was opened under the name St Pauls in 1886. It was renamed in 1937 and rebuilt in the 1970s

The name Newgate is mainly associated with a prison. The first was built in 1188, subsequently enlarged, and then rebuilt after the fire of 1666. Work on a new prison was started in 1770 to a design by George Dance the Younger. Construction was disrupted by riots in 1780 but the building was completed two years later. It was demolished in 1904 to make space for the Central Criminal Courts, known as Old Bailey.

The Old Bailey was designed by Edward William Mountford and completed in 1907. The Lady Justice on top of the dome was executed by the sculptor Frederick William Pomeroy. 

Across the street: 16 Old Bailey (Britannia House) was built as offices for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1912 to designs by Arthur Usher. 15 Old Bailey was built in 1874 as the Imperial Hotel by architect Evans Cronk.  

St. Sepulchre without Newgate was originally a Saxon church dedicated to St. Edmund. The church became known as St. Edmund and the Holy Sepulchre during the years 1103 to 1173, when it was in the care of Augustinian canons, who were knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Later, the name became abbreviated to “St Sepulchre”. Rebuilt and much enlarged in 1450, the wall, tower and porch has survived from that period. Badly damaged in the Great Fire of 1666, the interior was restored in 1670 and has been much altered since.

There is no way to trace the wall exactly here, so we we wander down Newgate Street and turn at St, Martins Le-Grand towards Aldersgate. Just off Newgate street we find the Cutlers Hall, originally built as the Royal College of Physicians in 1888 by architect T. Tayler Smith. The terracotta frieze was executed by sculptor Benjamin Creswick.

At the corner of St Martin's Le-Grand and Gresham Street: the modern building in the back (25 Gresham Street) was built in 2002 by Nicholas Grimshaw and partners.  

Some more wall remnants and a guy sleeping. 88 Wood Street (left) was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and was built in 1993-2001. 

The Barbican estate was built in the 1960s and 1970s by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. The word Barbican is derived from the Latin Barbecana, meaning fortified outpost or gateway. 

Within the estate we also find this church, St. Giles without Cripplegate. A church has stood on this site since Saxon times. The present church, which dates from 1090 was extended in 1340, and restored after fires in 1545 and 1897, and again after bombing in 1940. St Giles, by a strange coincidence, is a saint for cripples, although Cripplegate supposedly has no reference to cripples.

Moorgate was added to the list of gates in medieval times. It has no church but there is a square with three Georgian terraces from the early 19th-century. The stuccoed fronts are from the 1870s.  Moorhouse was designed by Norman Foster and was completed in 2004.

The construction of the new Broadgate tower can be seen towards the north. The tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

St Botolph without Bishopsgate is the church at the next gate. The church survived the fire of 1666 but fell into disrepair. The present church was first consecrated in 1728 according to a design by George Dance the elder. It suffered severe structural damage after the IRA terrorist bombings in 1992 and 1993. The highrise in the background is 99 Bishopsgate, reclad as result of bomb damage. It was originally built in 1976.  

Last gate on our tour is Aldgate. The church here is also dedicated to St. Botolph, and is called St Botolph without Aldgate. It also survived the Great Fire but fell into disrepair and had to be rebuilt, which was done to designs by George Dance the elder.

The scale and style of the City has changed so much over time that the few Georgian remnants stand out. 43 Eastcheap is a Grade II listed 18th-century house with an early 19th-century shop front, but the red-brick neighbour is a replica from 1966.

Gresham street was created in 1881-95 by widening and joining Cateaton street, Maiden lane, St. Anne's lane and Lad lane. The building on the left is Gresham College, completed in 1912 to a design by architects Watney and Perks.

Golden Square

The area where Golden Square was built was previously called Windmill Fields, after a windmill erected sometime around 1585. It had been granted as a freehold since 1559-60 after the crown took possession in 1536 from the Mercer’s Company.

The part of Windmill Fields were the square was built was called Gelding Close, because it was used as a pasture for castrated horses, known as Geldings. The name Golden Square, in use by the late 17th-century, seems to have derived from Gelding.  

By 1670, the land was primed for development. Rival claims of ownership were settled and the land ended up in the hands of John Emlyn and James Axtell.

In 1670-71, Christopher Wren reported in his capacity as Surveyor General on unlicensed houses in places such as Windmill Fields, resulting in a proclamation against the practice. In response, Emlin and Axtell made an official petition.    

A grant was given in 1673 according to a plan bearing Wren’s signature. It not clear where it originated and may merely have been approved by the Surveyor General, not necessarily authored by him.

No building took place there for some time, and a final settlement between the two owners had only been reached in 1675. In the process, John Emlyn’s share fell to Isaac Symball. Some of Symball’s plots were under construction before 1680 but proceeded slowly. Meanwhile, Axtell died in 1679 and the development of his plots only got underway after a few years into the next decade.   

The western range was completed by 1689 as was most of the southern, though two of the houses were only completed in 1692. The eastern range was first completed by the turn of the century and the houses on the northern range were built in 1685-98. The facades were relatively uniform but less so than in Soho Square. The earliest buildings in particular tended to diverge in style and height, while the later were more more coordinated.  

Most of the houses were three storeys high and three windows wide, in brick with sash windows under flat gauged arches. The dormer windows had triangular pediments and most of the door-cases had scrolled broken pediments.

 

The western range was built in the early 20th century. The red brick buildings are almost all by the same architect, William Woodward. First out was 17 Golden Square, built for Burberry in 1902. The adjoining 18 Golden Square was built in 1904 but with a a stone facade. Burberry expanded with two new buildings in 1907-08, and 15-16 Golden Square are presumably both designed by Woodward. Meanwhile, Woodward designed number 13 in 1906. The gap between that and the Burberry buildings were plugged with an extension in 1912-13, to a design by R. H. Kerr. Finally, 19 Golden Square was built at the other end of the range in 1922.

On the northern range, the building on the left was built in 1987. The middle building is from 1914 and was designed by Leonard Stokes for silk and wool merchants Gagnière and Co. The building on the right was completed by 1929 by architect Gordon Jeeves.

The tall and narrow building on the left is from 1915 and was built as show-rooms and offices for a Huddersfield woollen firm. The architects were Naylor and Sale. It is surrounded on both sides by older buildings. The house on the left seems to have been remodelled or rebuilt at the end of the 18th century. The same is true of the two houses on the right, though the remodelling of the original facades may have come earlier in the century. The tall building on the right was completed in 1924 to a design by Mewès and Davis for the woollen firm of Dormeuil Frères. The building on the far left is from 1886.

The brick front on the right was rebuilt in 1954 but is a reasonably faithful copy of the original, as it was rebuilt in 1778. On left we find a building from 1907–08 designed by E. Keynes Purchase. the other buildings are from 1923, 1925 and 1903-04 respectively.