page_title: Architecture of London
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of London
caption_attribution_description: London_Maritime_Greenwich
context_page_description: London is the largest and capital city of England and the United Kingdom. Founded as the ancient city of Londinium in the first century CE by the Romans as capital of the Roman province of Britannia, London has been an inhabited settlement almost continuously since. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, the layout of the Roman settlement became the approximate blueprint of the Saxon and medieval city. This ancient core of London is known as the City of London with Westminster, the ancient centre of political power in London, lying to the west. Relatively few structures survive from London's medieval past due to the city's near-total destruction in the Great Fire of 1666, but notable survivors include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, Guildhall, St James's Palace, Lambeth Palace and a handful of scattered Tudor survivals. After the Great Fire, London was transformed as it was rebuilt and greatly modernised under the direction of the Baroque architect Sir Christopher Wren, with the new Baroque St Paul's Cathedral as its centrepiece.
context_section_description: London is the largest and capital city of England and the United Kingdom. Founded as the ancient city of Londinium in the first century CE by the Romans as capital of the Roman province of Britannia, London has been an inhabited settlement almost continuously since. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, the layout of the Roman settlement became the approximate blueprint of the Saxon and medieval city. This ancient core of London is known as the City of London with Westminster, the ancient centre of political power in London, lying to the west. Relatively few structures survive from London's medieval past due to the city's near-total destruction in the Great Fire of 1666, but notable survivors include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, Guildhall, St James's Palace, Lambeth Palace and a handful of scattered Tudor survivals. After the Great Fire, London was transformed as it was rebuilt and greatly modernised under the direction of the Baroque architect Sir Christopher Wren, with the new Baroque St Paul's Cathedral as its centrepiece. After a period of dramatic expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries, London reached its zenith as the world's largest and populous city from 1831 to 1925, as well as being the capital of the British Empire at its greatest extent and power. In this period London sprawled vastly beyond its historical boundaries, absorbing many formerly rural settlements and creating vast suburbs. The city was also transformed by groundbreaking new infrastructure projects like the West India Docks which affirmed London's status as a major port, a system of canals which included the Regent's Canal, a modern sewage system, some of the world's first intercity railway termini such as Paddington Station, and the world's first underground railway system. These innovations set London apart as the pre-eminent city of the industrial age. After suffering significant destruction during by The Blitz of World War II and a period of economic decline in the post-war period, London is once again a global capital of culture and commerce, with much new development adding to its eclectic cityscape.
  London contains a very wide variety of architectural styles from a variety of historical periods. London's great architectural eclecticism stems from its long history, constant redevelopment, destruction caused by The Blitz and historical government recognition of private property rights which often prevented large scale state planning. This sets London apart from other great European capitals like Paris, Vienna and Rome which are more architecturally homogenous and were more rationally planned. London's eclectic architectural heritage ranges from Roman archaeological remains, the great medieval fortress the Tower of London, the 13th-century gothic of Westminster Abbey, the opulent baroque of St Paul's Cathedral, the elegant neoclassicism of Somerset House, the urban set piece of Regent Street, the Victorian High Gothic of St Pancras railway station, the art deco Hoover Building, the austere brutalism of the Barbican Estate and the high-tech skyscraper 30 St Mary Axe.
  Being the capital of the United Kingdom, London contains many of the most important buildings of the British State, The Monarchy and The Church of England. These include the Palace of Westminster; the centre of British democracy, Buckingham Palace; the official residence of the British Monarchy and Westminster Abbey; the site of all coronations of English and British monarchs since 1066. London also contains numerous monuments such as the ancient heart of London at London Stone, the 17th-century Monument to the Great Fire of London, Marble Arch, Wellington Arch, the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. Nelson's Column is an internationally recognised monument in Trafalgar Square, often regarded as the centre of London.
  
  Throughout most of London's history, the height of buildings has been restricted. These restrictions gradually eroded in the post-war period (except those protecting certain views of St Paul's Cath
caption: Queens House (1633) Indigo Jones (centre) and Old Royal Naval College (1712) Christopher Wren, a poignant example of the English Baroque Movement in London.
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