On Friday 2nd November members of the Cambridge Society explored the ever evolving and changing City of London on a walking tour led by Blue Badge Guide Caroline Piper. We started with post-war rebuilding in the Golden Lane and Barbican estates. Seen as concrete hell by some and a design triumph by others, they are nevertheless innovative and now fashionable places to live. We reflected on the abandoned City pedway scheme, which aimed to have pedestrians walking around London raised in the air, and why this never became successful. We admired buildings designed by the great British architects of modern times, Richard Rogers & Partners, Norman Foster & Partners, Terry Farrell and James Stirling, and got right up to date with the Bloomberg Building completed autumn 2017. We considered some of the challenges facing architects working in London, from building on top of architectural digs, to weird shaped building plots, to the need to preserve views and neighbours’ right to light. We finished the tour by admiring the ever growing Eastern Cluster of skyscrapers including, the Lloyds Building, the Cheesegrater and the Gherkin and with new additions such as 22 Bishopsgate (a great cliff face of glass nearing completion of the exterior) and the proposed site of 1 Undershaft (which will be as tall as the Shard). Everyone agreed it was eye-opening to see how much, and how rapidly, the City is changing!
Post-tour we popped into the historic Lamb Tavern in Leadenhall Market for a convivial chat and glass of wine in cosy surroundings.
Organised by Caroline Piper