‘The Gherkin’ as it is popularly known is one of a number of major new buildings in the City of London which have quickly established themselves as popular and iconic in the popular imagination. And it is certainly a distinctive building. I know people rightly worry about the skyline and protexting the historic views of, for example, St Pauls, and rightly so. But I think we should be pleased that in one port of the country at least people are confidently building for the future with building which project enormous self-confidence. ‘The Shard’ when finished is going to be an even more impressive statement about the future.

I was in the City yesterday and was reminded how one of the intriguing aspects of the City is how so many different ages of architecture are crowded together in such a small, concentrated area. This picture tries to give an impression of that, taken from in front of a small street of early twentieth century (my guess) offices built in the classical tradition and which appear to provide the launch pad for the gherkin rocket.