London’s Gherkin - London - Places of Interest

One of the most distinctive buildings in the City of London, that can be seen for miles around is 30 St Mary Axe, otherwise known as The Gherkin.
Its the blue coloured, glass, missile shaped office tower that’s on the site of the old Baltic Exchange, the former headquarters for world shipping sales that was severely damaged by an IRA bomb in 1992.

The Gherkin’s off Bishopsgate, between Liverpool Street and Monument stations, but its also London’s sixth biggest building at 590ft(180m) so you get a glimpse of it from a lot of places around town.

It’s a private office block that also has the highest restaurant and bar in London, used by the companies that occupy the building during the day but which are available for private functions and weddings on weekends and after 6.30pm during the week. The restaurant has 360 degree views over London and combined with the bar can handle about 260 people. There are also five private dining rooms that are for hire for breakfast, lunch and dinner weekdays.

The Gherkin only opened in 2004 and is a very ‘green’ building using around half the energy of a typical office block its size, doing this by combining natural ventilation with a double skin, along with the tower allowing in lots of light.

Its an impressive place to walk around and being in the heart of the historic centre of London you find a lot of old buildings and churches with this really modern tower as a backdrop.

After the Baltic Exchange was bombed the planners in charge of the area had tight regulations on what could be built but with the growth of Canary Wharf and the shift of businesses to offices custom designed for their needs, the rules on what could go up were relaxed and The Gherkin today is one of the most recognizable structures in London, although I bet if you asked most Londoners to describe 30 St Mary Axe they wouldn’t have a clue what you were talking about.