London's Oddly Named Buildings

From the riiver with both St Paul's and the Cheesegrater in view

London has a lot of famous buildings with most of them known by normal unremarkable names. Examples of normal names include the Houses of Parliament which is home to parliament, and Tower Bridge which is a bridge with two famous towers located on its length and is next to the Tower of London.

But Londoners have a good imagination and have consequently given interesting names to many of London's buildings. These are not usually their official names but are well recognised by the majority of Londoners.

The Cheesegrater

The Cheesegrater is located proximally to the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie and is officially 112 Leadenhall Street or the Leadenhall Building. It gets its name because one of its faces leans back to create a slant akin to an actual cheesegrater. This was done so that the building doesn't violate the protected view of St Paul's from Fleet Street.

The Walkie Talkie

The Walkie Talkie in the centre with the OXO Tower on the right

The Walkie Talkie is officially called 20 Fenchurch Street and has previously fried cars. This happened because one of the buildings faces has a concave shape which is also the reason it got the name Walkie Talkie because it looks kind of like one. The top of 20 Fenchurch Street is the location of the Sky Garden which gives phenomenal panoramic views of London and a visit is free.

The London Eye

From the Thames with the Houses Of Parliament on the left and the London Eye on the right

The London Eye is also known as the Millennium Wheel with it officially opening on the 31st of December 1999 for the millennium. But the attraction wasn't actually ready until the 9th of March 2000 when it opened to the general public. Its name is interesting with "eye" referring to the circular shape of the wheel.

The OXO Tower

The OXO Tower is located on the Southbank and despite currently housing art galleries and a restaurant it used to be a storage location of the OXO company. Its use as storage for the OXO company ended many years ago but the name lives on, potentially promoting the seemingly unrelated brand.

The Orbit

The Orbit taken from the the top of the O2

The Orbit is located in the Olympic Park in Stratford and is essentially a viewing platform but also has a large slide of 178 metres. The Orbit was constructed with the metaphor of it representing the long, painful, and difficult journey for athletes to make it into the Olympics.

The Gherkin

The Gherkin is officially called 30 St Mary Axe and is located in the City Of London. Construction started on the 41 floor building in 2001 with it opening in 2004. Like most tall buildings (known or unknown) the Gherkin is almost totally offices. The need for large amounts of large offices after the pandemic has been brought into doubt with Old City Hall not having any occupants after the Mayor and GLA left.

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