I was giving my cousin Luke a brief tour around the City on Saturday, showing him the Gherkin at street level, when we noticed this building opposite Lloyds of London (peeking into view at the left edge). I love this photo because it demonstrates how a building's core is what keeps it upright, even though it's much smaller in area than the building's footprint.
This 14-story office block, built in 1969, survived the largest of the IRA bombs in the 1990s, that levelled the nearby Baltic Exchange (where the Gherkins stands today). Now the building will make way for a 48-story Richard Rogers (of Lloyds of London fame) design that has been nicknamed the Cheese Grater because of its triangular shape. The new building's odd shape is to preserve a sightline of St Paul's Cathedral. You can see architectural photos of the new building, and read more, here.
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