Protected Views of London

December 30, 2015 3:56 PM

St Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, lies at the centre of London. At 365 feet high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 until 1962, and dominated the London skyline. Since the 1960s London has seen multiple high-rise developments, which could crowd out the cathedral. However, views of St Paul's from multiple places in and around the City are preserved by law. This protects St Paul's both from having tall buildings built in front of it, and also behind it in ways that would spoil the silhouette on the horizon. The 'Cheesegrater' for instance, slopes back to protect one such view. Some explanations and demonstrations from Tom Scott, Londonist, and The Guardian.

Some nicely illustrated technical documentation here, here, here, and here (see links to pdf documents for the London View Management Framework (LVMF).

posted by carter (20 comments total)

Is the Gherkin visible from there? (I always thought it looks like a giant dildo, but calling it a pickle is good, too.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:04 PM on December 30, 2015

If you ever visit St. Paul's then make sure to do the climb to the top! Lots of steps, but the view is worth it.

I also admit to getting a little moist eyed at the American Memorial Chapel behind the high alter.
posted by sbutler at 4:11 PM on December 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't think it ever had any real legal protection, but there's a "protected view" in Boston that's been recently rendered ironic.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:15 PM on December 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do they keep the fog out of the sightlines, too?
posted by notyou at 4:17 PM on December 30, 2015

Speaking of iconic views of St. Paul's - it was just the 75th anniversary of this famous photo. If the bomb that landed in the cathedral hadn't been successfully defused then London property developers would have one less thing to worry about.
posted by sobarel at 4:57 PM on December 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of one of the tongue in cheek ideas in the recent New London Architecture programme for how to solve the housing crisis - simply move St Paul's to Parliament Hill so that it is always visible and you can build anywhere in the city without falling foul of the LVMF corridor!
posted by Albondiga at 5:32 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Speaking of iconic views of St. Paul's - it was just the 75th anniversary of this famous photo.

December 29th 1940 - the Second Fire of London.

Famously, Churchill specifically ordered that St Pauls be defended at all costs.

The view that changed most dramatically until the last few years was the one from Greenwich Park (by the observatory) - from the mid-eighties for about fifteen years, skyscrapers sprouted behind the maritime museum. This seems to have stopped recently as developers have discovered Boris Johnson will let them stick hideous tall buildings wherever they like.

I'm a bit curious to see what will happen if the next crash comes when they're all half-built, which is seeming quite likely.
posted by Grangousier at 5:41 PM on December 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

We have 2007 picture of ourselves on the opposite side of the Millennium (aka weebly-wobbly) Bridge with St. Paul's in the background on the other side, just above our heads. It's a nicely framed shot, but there are eight construction cranes visible as well.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:13 PM on December 30, 2015

"I also admit to getting a little moist eyed at the American Memorial Chapel behind the high alter."

If you really want to get your weepy on, go to the Thanksgiving Day service St. Paul's holds for American ex-pats in London, including the ambassador and dozens of lost-looking 18-year-old service members and elderly WWII vets and it's just lovely.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:51 PM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm a bit curious to see what will happen if the next crash comes when they're all half-built, which is seeming quite likely.

I wondered the same thing when the 2008 Crash came along. On that occasion, though, all the London building already underway just carried on regardless. One more bit of evidence that London's economy is quite separate from that of the UK as a whole, I guess.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:18 AM on December 31, 2015

One of my favorite bits of trivia about Christopher Wren and St. Paul's--Wren is buried there, and the tombstone reads in part (in Latin): "Reader, if you want a monument, look around you".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:07 AM on December 31, 2015 [4 favorites]

Which refers not just to the Cathedral itself but to the 51 other churches he rebuilt in the City of London and his role as the King's Surveyor in the rebuilding after the Fire in 1666. The monument is not just the Cathedral but the City itself.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:15 AM on December 31, 2015 [4 favorites]

If the bomb that landed in the cathedral hadn't been successfully defused then London property developers would have one less thing to worry about.

And

One of my favorite bits of trivia about Christopher Wren and St. Paul's--Wren is buried there, and the tombstone reads in part (in Latin): "Reader, if you want a monument, look around you".

Oo! Me! Me! I wrote a song about these things and put it on mefi music, ages ago.

Anyway, as you were.
posted by howfar at 5:39 AM on December 31, 2015

Do they keep the fog out of the sightlines, too?

This, err, hasn't been a problem since (slightly) before tall multi-storey buildings started being built in London.
posted by ambrosen at 5:58 AM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Stop at the Paternoster for a nice meal and a drink if you visit.
posted by tommasz at 6:05 AM on December 31, 2015

"Si monumentum requiris, circumspice"

Or, as Londoners better know it, "If it's Monument you requre, take the Circle Line".
posted by Devonian at 6:40 AM on December 31, 2015 [7 favorites]

On that occasion, though, all the London building already underway just carried on regardless.

Not so. The Pinnacle, which would have been the tallest building in The City, had the plug pulled after building some very expensive foundations and a seven storey stump. They're currently demolishing it and starting again.

(IIRC there was a time when the same thing could have happened to the Shard, until it had a shedload of Qatari cash thrown at it)
posted by grahamparks at 8:38 AM on December 31, 2015

"If it's Monument you requre, take the Circle Line".

"...or the District Line, or the Northern Line in a pinch. You can also do the DLR, the Central Line, or (on weekdays) the Waterloo and City Line, but only if you're a masochist, because the whole Bank/Monument station complex is one huge tangled subterranean mess."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:56 AM on December 31, 2015

Famously, Churchill specifically ordered that St Pauls be defended at all costs.

I recall one of the Sarah Records fanzines taking up the grievance, from a bolshy socialist point of view, that the firefighters deliberately let all the printing and publishing buildings nearby burn down whilst defending only this building.

One thing that has been documented that post-war British bookbinding has been inferior to the American variety; when hardcover books were printed on both sides of the Atlantic, the US editions would have stitched bindings, whereas the British ones would be cheaply glued. I imagine the extended period of post-WW2 austerity had something to do with this, but I do wonder whether any part of that was due to the loss of institutional knowledge to the Blitz and the redirection of defensive resources on one symbolic building.
posted by acb at 1:39 PM on December 31, 2015

(IIRC there was a time when the same thing could have happened to the Shard, until it had a shedload of Qatari cash thrown at it)

Apparently two floors of the Shard are the Qatari emir's London palace. I'm not sure which ones they are: perhaps a fairly broad one in the middle and one at the very top, with a private lift connecting them?
posted by acb at 1:40 PM on December 31, 2015