One of the things that I love about the City of London is the way that it is constantly changing. Here the Walkie Talkie building looms over Victorian buildings. The one thing that rarely changes is the actual street plan, so you walk down the same roads that people have been walking for centuries but around you amazing new buildings pop up.
Our boys went off on an Explorers’ Expedition to the Peak District over the Easter weekend, leaving Mr CW and I home alone. We spent one of the days wandering around the City of London looking at Roman remains. As we strolled along Eastcheap I glimpsed up to see the Walkie Talkie Building loomed over both us and the buildings on Eastcheap.
Whilst Mr CW and I pondered on the fact that we had just been looking at Roman remains nearly 2000 years old and here was the ultra modern 20 Fenchurch Street, as the Walkie Talkie is officially known, standing over us like a Colossus, another building stepped forward and grabbed our attention, not for its size but for its extravagant Victorian gothic architecture.
31-35 Eastcheap is Grade II* listed and has recently undergone a refurbishment into, what I suspect are, beautifully appointed offices, I assume, but it was built as a vinegar warehouse. Hill and Evans manufactured vinegar in what was the world’s largest vinegar factory in Worcester. When they decided that they needed a London distribution centre, they turned to the architect R L Roumieu who produced this Gothic extravaganza for them. Even at the time it was deemed to be eye-catching! I wonder what will end up stealing the Walkie-Talkie’s thunder in the future?
At the very top of the Walkie Talkie building is the Sky Garden which is free to visit, but you must book first, the views are stunning and it is well worth going.
One of the things I love most about London is the way the new intermingles with the old. The view from Tower Bridge always amazes me – everything from the city’s most modern skyscrapers to St Paul’s Cathedral.
And how there is always a clutch of cranes constructing the next skyline changer!
I rather like the fusion of old and new, it suggests a city of culture and diversity that moves with the times.
Love the contrast between new and old. It’s strange but because, although the are very different, neither seem out of place to me.
It is the bland buildings that seem all wrong, all very odd
I’ve always loved seeing the old set against the new in London.
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A perfect picture of old and new – did you visit the Sky Garden at the top?
I have before, on this day we thought we would chance it and see if we could just go up but there were a mass of people hoping to do the same and a three hour wait … we opted to ride on the top deck of bus instead!
I just love London buildings for exactly this reason and it’s so easy to just keep walking past beauties like this for months and months before you “see” them properly!
I know, I have walked down Eastcheap countless times but not noticed the Gothic wonderfulness of 31 – 35 until this time!
I love the juxtaposition of new and old – great shots!
Thank you, I ordered the stormy moody sky especially!
I do love London’s diversity and combination of old and new. Although I think I prefer the old in this case!
The old has more texture!
That is an amazing picture, but it’s probably my least favourite building in the skyline right now… It just looks like something out of Lazytown to me! 😀
Had forgotten Lazy Town!
It is always fascinating to see the way the old and new coexist in the city. I live in NY and we have the same situation, so many old beautiful buildings dwarfed by modern skyscrapers.
The dwarfing is all quite new to London
Love the story about the Vinegar Warehouse – I wonder of they ever thought they were commissioning something fresh and radical … or chiselling their way back into the golden days of Gothic? Architecture is such a brilliant way to think about the past . Thanks for the post Catherine.
I think that they knew, it was much talked about when it was new and would have been good publicity for them.