Two Days in London: One Skyscraper at a Time Quiz

Answer: Tower of London

The White Tower (which gave the castle its name) associated with the Tower of London was completed in 1098. It topped out at 89 feet (27 metres). Officially known as Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, the castle commenced construction in 1066 and had several expansions in the 1200s & 1300s.

The tower served as a jail between 1100 and 1952 though this was never its primary purpose. Tower Bridge is adjacent to the Tower of London. The bridge is actually named after the castle next door and not, as some people believe, that the bridge is named after its own two towers.

Answer: St Paul's Cathedral

The first St Paul's Cathedral, with a height of 150 metres (492 ft), had a chequered past as regards being London's tallest building. When completed in 1310 it was in fact Britain's tallest building, but lost that title to Lincoln Cathedral a year later. It regained the title when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral toppled in 1549.

Although the spire of St Paul's was destroyed by lightning in 1561, it was still the tallest structure in London and England. However the church was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and needed to be rebuilt. When completed in 1710, the new cathedral was 364 feet (111 metres) high, and it remained London's tallest building until 1962.

The 2017 photo shows the "modern" St Paul's with the somewhat newer Millennium Bridge in the foreground.

Answer: Houses of Parliament

The London Building Act prohibited buildings over 80ft due explicitly to Queen Victoria's impeded view of the Palace of Westminster. It is likely though, she would have seen the top of Big Ben which at 96 metres (315 ft) could have been considered a skyscraper in its own right.

Although these height restrictions have been relaxed, the low rise culture prevailed in London construction. Also regulations remained in place to preserve "protected views" of places such as St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, and the Palace of Westminster.

Answer: 177 m / 581ft

The tower commenced in 1961, was finished in 1964 and opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1965. With its aerial rigging the main structure height of 177m (581 ft) stretched out to 191 metres (627 ft). On the 34th floor, there were viewing galleries, a souvenir shop and a rotating restaurant called the Top of the Tower.

It completed one revolution every 22 minutes. The building was closed to the public in 1980 due, in part to a bomb exploding in the men's toilet in 1971. The tower is still used as a telecommunications tower and because it had few rivals height-wise until the 80s, it had many appearances in popular culture.

Answer: Canary Wharf

After the GPO Tower, one of London's first taller buildings was a modest 117-metre (384 ft) Centre Point which was completed in 1966 in New Oxford St. Tower 42, (originally called the National Westminster Tower) followed in 1980, which at 183 metres (600 ft) became the tallest building. It was beaten in 1991 by One Canada Square which rises 235 metres (771 ft), and centred the Canary Wharf development. After a 10-year lull, several new skyscrapers appeared here: 8 Canada Square, and 25 Canada Square, being the tallest.

From 1802 to 1939, this river area was one of the world's busiest docks. In 1980 when the docks closed, London Docklands Development Corporation encouraged development and a mini-financial district was created. Canary Wharf was built in 1936 for Fruit Lines Ltd, a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Lines for the Mediterranean and Canary Islands fruit trade. (Canary comes form the Spanish "Gran Canaria" meaning large dog). Given the whole Docklands area was known as the Isle of Dogs, it became Canary Wharf.

Answer: The Gherkin

There are many unusual aspects to 30 St Mary Axe: the street name possibly derives from a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and an adjacent inn which had a sign depicting an axe. Another theory was from the church name itself, which may have come from the Axes used by the Worshipful Company of Skinners who were frequenters of the tavern.

The skyscraper sits on the sites of the Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping. These buildings were badly damaged in 1992 as a resulof a terrorist bombing by the Provisional IRA. After restoration was deemed impossible, plans to build a 92-storey Millennium Tower were made and dropped. The resulting building, opened in 2003, was built with a modest height of 180 metres (591 ft) tall. However its distinctive shape makes it one of the most recognisable landmarks of London.

Answer: Protests about the finished building obscuring of the view of St Paul's from Waterloo bridge

The Heron Tower is 230 metres (755 ft) high including a 28-metre (92 ft) mast making the building itself 202 metres tall. The main objection to it being built was the obscuring of the view of St Paul's from Waterloo Bridge. Whilst height restrictions have been lifted, any new building's height and shadows effect on iconic historical landmarks must be considered. In this case the developer was allowed to proceed without modification to plans.

A personal must-do when in London is to take the external lift to the restaurant on the 38th floor, admire the sweeping views (The photo in Q6 was taken from there) and have some really nice food in the restaurant.

Answer: The Cheesegrater

The nickname of the building came from the chief planning officer of the City of London Corporation, Peter Rees, who after seeing a model of the proposed building "told Richard Rogers I could imagine his wife using it to grate Parmesan... [said name] stuck."

This is an unusual building on several counts. It does not have the usual concrete core to provide stability but has a steel mega-frame which both anchors it to the ground as well as provide the rigid stability it needs. The flat side of the building holds the mechanical services especially the the elevator shafts. The architects deliberately highlighted the elevator mechanics with vibrant orange painted counterweights. The main drawback of the external shape is the building's decreased floor space (84,400 mē) for a 255 m building. However the slim slanting wedge-shaped design affords a better view of St Paul's than a similar size building using a "block" design.

Answer: Walkie-Talkie

The official title of the Walkie-Talkie building is 20 Fenchurch St. It was completed in 2014. Compared with other skyscrapers built around the same time, this 34-storey building has a more modest height of 160 m (525 ft). It has a sky garden and viewing gallery on its top floor.

Architect Rafael Vinoly designed s a highly distinctive top-heavy form which appears to burst upward and outward to maintain as many views as possible. in an interview with the "Financial Times" in 2011 stated "We scooped the building out at the sides and back," he saids, "to allow views of St Margaret's Church and also of the City cluster. It bends to respond to where things are and to indicate the presence of the river."

Nevertheless the controversial building has had its share of criticism. Wind draughts have been reported around its base and because of the curvature of the building, it acts as a concave mirror and heats an area in front of building up to a reported temperature of 107 C. Some media have nicknamed the building (again) "Fryscraper" and "Walkie Scorchie."

Answer: True

With a height of 309.7 metres (1,016 ft) at its highest point, the Shard became the tallest building in the European Union in December 2011, and the tallest completed building in Europe on 30 March 2012. However in November 2012, the 339-metre (1,112 ft) Mercury City Tower in Moscow replaced the Shard as the tallest building in Europe.

The glass-enveloped pyramidal tower has 72 floors, with a viewing gallery and observation deck on the top floor, at 244.3 m / 802 ft.

During the design phase, The Shard's earliest designs were amended following the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report into the collapse of the World Trade Centre.