Compare Parliament Hill in 1965
with a similar view today
flickr link
note the tall buildings grouped left (north and east) of St Paul's ; The Barbican Estate was opened in 1969, they're the darker buildings in the cluster to the left. The Gherkin is the latest in that old trend. Behind the docks were still open in the 1960s, surrounded by warehouses, St Katherine's closed in 1968. And banking was then still all contained in the relatively low-rise City of London, as were the offices of of the merchant shipping fleets (in Leadenhall). The docks were destroyed as a matter of policy from 1969 to 1980, and from then replaced with a mixture of media and finance/banking towers. To me the pollution looks visibly worse and the environment less human, but then I'm over 50... The people on Hampstead Heath are notably more varied, and crowded
with a similar view today
flickr link
note the tall buildings grouped left (north and east) of St Paul's ; The Barbican Estate was opened in 1969, they're the darker buildings in the cluster to the left. The Gherkin is the latest in that old trend. Behind the docks were still open in the 1960s, surrounded by warehouses, St Katherine's closed in 1968. And banking was then still all contained in the relatively low-rise City of London, as were the offices of of the merchant shipping fleets (in Leadenhall). The docks were destroyed as a matter of policy from 1969 to 1980, and from then replaced with a mixture of media and finance/banking towers. To me the pollution looks visibly worse and the environment less human, but then I'm over 50... The people on Hampstead Heath are notably more varied, and crowded
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