It was trumpeted as a state-of-the-art building when it opened. Some say it is an iconic building, but they are usually people who haven’t worked in it. The Norman Foster-designed building that has housed the Mayor and the London Assembly for two decades has gained several nicknames over the years – the glass testicle, glass gonad, car headlamp. But with the move of the Greater London Authority (GLA) to a new location in the Royal Docks now underway, it’s also the end of an important chapter for the city’s government. Catch footage of Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965, and you’ll see the long-gone cranes that once lined the wharves on this bit of the riverfront bowing in respect as the coffin passed on the Thames.įast forward to the present and the City Hall is at the heart of a mix-use modern development known as More London that has transformed the stretch between Tower Bridge and London Bridge. When the last of the docks closed in 1980, enormous swathes of derelict land stretched right into the heart of London, including where City Hall stands. From the balcony at the top of City Hall, looking in the direction of Canary Wharf, it’s impossible to visualise the urban decay that once blighted miles of the River Thames.
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