6 ms·

In 2012 I used to work around the Liverpool Street Station area. I quite liked it, especially the Lloyds building, but at the time there were already a lot of c

by pmlnr 7y ago

In 2012 I used to work around the Liverpool Street Station area. I quite liked it, especially the Lloyds building, but at the time there were already a lot of constructions going on. I haven't been there for years until recently, and the change there is crushing. It became cramped, insanely large buildings everywhere, Lloyds barely visible and tiny with the Cheesegrater next to it. It was an eye opening experience how much can change in a relatively (building age wise) small time. EDIT: 2009 vs 2019 views of the LLoyd's building: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5140007,-0.0812995,3a,75y,232.14h,105.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJ9yOo_2_7mT7HBC1ffL94g!2e0!5s20090801T000000!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5140007,-0.0812995,3a,75y,... https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5139823,-0.0812983,3a,75y,203.63h,105.86t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shD4TI8ifhgMEz-r27lDKsA!2e0!5s20190501T000000!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5139823,-0.0812983,3a,75y,...

madaxe_again 7y ago
I worked on Gracechurch Street, Bishopsgate, Cannon Street in the early 2000s - all four buildings are gone - 60’s - 80’s structures. Crazy rate of churn.
mstade 7y ago
I worked there around the same time as you and I thought it felt pretty cramped by then already, but nowadays when I end up in that area I almost feel claustrophobic. The city skyline has really changed massively over the past decade..
deathwarmedover 7y ago
Reminds me of how I was sad when the bridge for Shoreditch Overground station blocked the Tea Building, but that was before the first Street View image it seems: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5231608,-0.0776078,3a,75y,45.53h,99.59t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1eWNcBZ_FQ9Jc67jY_yzWQ!2e0!5s20080701T000000!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5231608,-0.0776078,3a,75y,...
foldr 7y ago
I like the new developments, personally. London's skyline has become a lot more interesting.
- blowski 7y ago
  I love how London is a constantly evolving city, rather than being kept in a museum to conform with some design aesthetic from a distant past.
  - pmlnr 7y ago
    I wasn't against evolve at all. The problem is the absurdly claustrophobic feeling that overcomes me with the current new developments. They are too big.
    - foldr 7y ago
      That's odd. I don't get any kind of claustrophobic feeling from having a handful of additional tall buildings in the center of the city.
detritus 7y ago
Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, Holloway - all places once warm and familiar to me are now cold, oppressive masses of dense, synthetic development. London's never really stood still - certainly not in the 20 years I've lived here or the near 40 years I've had experience of it - but the rates of development over the past decade and a bit are astonishing and somewhat saddening to me. All seems a bit 'too much, too quick'.
- foldr 7y ago
  >Kings Cross Come on, Kings Cross was a dump 15 years ago. It's much nicer now. There are lots of generic-looking glass buildings, sure. But they've also removed the horrible 60s/70s concrete structures covering Kings Cross station and restored St Pancras Station and the associated hotel. If you don't think that the area has improved overall, I'd have to say that there's no pleasing you!
  - arethuza 7y ago
    I think "dump" makes it sound rather nicer than it actually was!
- Quarrelsome 7y ago
  oh come on, this is somewhat a nostalgia trip. I would assert that you're as equally annoyed that your definition of what it was is now inaccurate as you are about the changes. For those without that prior frame of reference what is now will just be what it was and they'll add their own complaints next decade. And thus time marches on and we cannot change it.
  - detritus 7y ago
    Sure, KX is somewhat 'better' in some ways than it was a while back, and I'm not against development per se (I used to note your observation when I worked in Camden and realised each generation down there would rue the loss of whatever version of 'old Camden' it was they held dear) - what I'm concerned about is the sudden comprehensive change of an entire area. I'm generally suspicious of inorganic large developments as they tend to crowd out smaller businesses and encourage more chains of widespread consumer outlets, as they're the only ones who can afford to sign up 'off plan'. Coal drops yard and the new St Martins are very pretty, and certainly striking and elegant but I do worry that they're quite synthetic and sterile and what impact that will have on the students. Whether or not the future students of St Martins will be any better or more successful than the ones who studied at that cold building in Holborn, I don't know. - ed typos
willmw101 7y ago
Personally quite like, and can see the value/use of, the dense mixture of old and new architecture in such a central/busy location. And endlessly prefer London's route of having most of its skycrapers in the concentrated, central areas, leaving the rest of the city's skyline low and non-oppressive for the majority of the nicer residential post/area-codes. So much easier to escape the steel/concrete/glass sun blocking monoliths in London than in say New York
- pmlnr 7y ago
  My problem is the lack of breathing space. I love the Barbican, but that was designed knowing that if you don't leave some green and space here and there, it'll crush you. The newish ones - eg 22 Bishopsgate, The Scalpel, The Cheesegrater, The Walkie-Talkie - are BIG in every dimension. They dwarf the Heron, despite the fact that the Heron is taller. I've never been to NY though.

by pmlnr 7y ago

madaxe_again 7y ago

I worked on Gracechurch Street, Bishopsgate, Cannon Street in the early 2000s - all four buildings are gone - 60’s - 80’s structures. Crazy rate of churn.

mstade 7y ago

I worked there around the same time as you and I thought it felt pretty cramped by then already, but nowadays when I end up in that area I almost feel claustrophobic. The city skyline has really changed massively over the past decade..

deathwarmedover 7y ago

Reminds me of how I was sad when the bridge for Shoreditch Overground station blocked the Tea Building, but that was before the first Street View image it seems: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5231608,-0.0776078,3a,75y,45.53h,99.59t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1eWNcBZ_FQ9Jc67jY_yzWQ!2e0!5s20080701T000000!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5231608,-0.0776078,3a,75y,...

foldr 7y ago

I like the new developments, personally. London's skyline has become a lot more interesting.

blowski 7y ago
I love how London is a constantly evolving city, rather than being kept in a museum to conform with some design aesthetic from a distant past.
- pmlnr 7y ago
  I wasn't against evolve at all. The problem is the absurdly claustrophobic feeling that overcomes me with the current new developments. They are too big.
  - foldr 7y ago
    That's odd. I don't get any kind of claustrophobic feeling from having a handful of additional tall buildings in the center of the city.

detritus 7y ago

Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, Holloway - all places once warm and familiar to me are now cold, oppressive masses of dense, synthetic development. London's never really stood still - certainly not in the 20 years I've lived here or the near 40 years I've had experience of it - but the rates of development over the past decade and a bit are astonishing and somewhat saddening to me. All seems a bit 'too much, too quick'.

foldr 7y ago
>Kings Cross Come on, Kings Cross was a dump 15 years ago. It's much nicer now. There are lots of generic-looking glass buildings, sure. But they've also removed the horrible 60s/70s concrete structures covering Kings Cross station and restored St Pancras Station and the associated hotel. If you don't think that the area has improved overall, I'd have to say that there's no pleasing you!
- arethuza 7y ago
  I think "dump" makes it sound rather nicer than it actually was!
Quarrelsome 7y ago
oh come on, this is somewhat a nostalgia trip. I would assert that you're as equally annoyed that your definition of what it was is now inaccurate as you are about the changes. For those without that prior frame of reference what is now will just be what it was and they'll add their own complaints next decade. And thus time marches on and we cannot change it.
- detritus 7y ago
  Sure, KX is somewhat 'better' in some ways than it was a while back, and I'm not against development per se (I used to note your observation when I worked in Camden and realised each generation down there would rue the loss of whatever version of 'old Camden' it was they held dear) - what I'm concerned about is the sudden comprehensive change of an entire area. I'm generally suspicious of inorganic large developments as they tend to crowd out smaller businesses and encourage more chains of widespread consumer outlets, as they're the only ones who can afford to sign up 'off plan'. Coal drops yard and the new St Martins are very pretty, and certainly striking and elegant but I do worry that they're quite synthetic and sterile and what impact that will have on the students. Whether or not the future students of St Martins will be any better or more successful than the ones who studied at that cold building in Holborn, I don't know. - ed typos

willmw101 7y ago

Personally quite like, and can see the value/use of, the dense mixture of old and new architecture in such a central/busy location. And endlessly prefer London's route of having most of its skycrapers in the concentrated, central areas, leaving the rest of the city's skyline low and non-oppressive for the majority of the nicer residential post/area-codes. So much easier to escape the steel/concrete/glass sun blocking monoliths in London than in say New York

pmlnr 7y ago
My problem is the lack of breathing space. I love the Barbican, but that was designed knowing that if you don't leave some green and space here and there, it'll crush you. The newish ones - eg 22 Bishopsgate, The Scalpel, The Cheesegrater, The Walkie-Talkie - are BIG in every dimension. They dwarf the Heron, despite the fact that the Heron is taller. I've never been to NY though.