Post-War Boom Of The 1960s
The first post-war office building phase did not begin until 1954. Lots left deserted
after the blitz had never been built on because of restrictions put in place on new
construction by the new Labour government. When these laws were lifted by the
conservatives the boom followed.
The first large projects, London Wall and Paternoster Square, arose on war damaged
sites. London wall is a major east-west artery across the city, in the early 60s the road
was widened and four dull miesan towers were errected on either side of the road.
Although the tallest was only 220ft, it was high for the city at the time. Since the
beggining of the nineties, the whole development has been either knocked down and
the space utilised better or restored. The Paternoster Square complex is on a seven
acre site just north of St Paul�s. It was built in the 60s with three low rise buildings and
one high rise. The tallest building, although only 205ft high, partially blocked the view
of the cathedral from Parliament Hill in Hampstead. Although these 2 projects are ugly
and badly designed, we must keep in mind that London was desperately trying to
compensate for the offices lost in the war, quickly, so that it did not lose it�s status as
the world�s financial capital.
Between 1967 and 1970 six skyscrapers between 300-400ft opened in the City. It is
this group of buildings that established a new skyline for London. They were the first
in the City to surpass in height the dome of St Paul�s and created a distinctive
skyscraper cluster in the financial core. They were Britannic Tower on Moore Lane,
the Commercial Union Tower in Leadenhall, Draper�s Gardens in Throgmorton,
Kleinwort Benson and Barclay�s Bank Intl H.Q, two similar structures on Fenchurch,
and the new Stock Exchange.
Britannic Tower, at 400ft, finished in 1967 is an uninspiring glass slab, a pale imitation
of the Modern style. Britannic Tower is next to the Barbican, a huge redevelopment
complex on a war damaged site that includes a concert hall, cinemas, restaurants a
library and 4000 apartments, which are partly situate in 3 400ft towers. Drapers
Gardens, designed by Richard Seifert, is set within a tight cluster of small buildings.
Richard Seifert has designed more London skyscrapers than anyone else. The
Commercial Union tower (my personal favourite) opened in 1969 at 387 ft, was a
more significant break with the past. Although not quite as tall as Britannic tower, it is
in the heart of the commercial core. It also broke the tight street pattern by craeting a
public plaza at it�s base which it shares with the P&O building, which was designed by
the same architect, Michael Carr.
Overall, the first group of post-war skyscrapers in the city were architecturally
undistinguished, but they established a skyline at 400ft. This was tall for London,
especially for the City. But that was still not enough and other skyscrapers were built
around London.
The Vickers of Millbank Tower, completed in 1961 at 387ft, next to the Tate gallery,
was permitted because it was thought to be sufficiently far upstream to block any
views of the Houses of Parliament. Three additional towers won approval because the
Bourough wanted to make street changes. All three towers are highly visible and in
sensitive locations. The effect was to create a perforated skyline for the west-end. The
most controversial was Richard Seifert�s Center Point (385ft), an extremely narrow
building of doubtfull economic utility, which can be seen from many locations. The
Euston Centre (410ft), at Euston Road can also be seen from many locations.
Portland House (326ft), can be seen from St James� Park and caused the GLC to
become determined not to let London Parks be hemmed in by high rise apartment
blocks like Central Park in N.Y.
