London 1: The City of London

Pevsner dedicated his original volume, on the Cities of London & Westminster, to the nights spent fire watching from Birkbeck College. Simon Bradley's revised volume, on the City alone, examines in detail the legacy of destruction and the subsequent reconstructions, in the aftermath of the War and in more recent memory, during the "boom" period from 1985-1993, when half of the City office space was rebuilt. Reconstruction on such a scale can only be compared with the rebuilding after the Great Fire when the City churches were designed by Sir Christopher Wren. His ingenuity is displayed in his masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral; one amongst the many buildings which make up the City's rich architectural heritage. The guide describes a city both ancient and modern, ranging from Georgian masterpieces by Soane and Hawksmoor to lavish Victorian market buildings, from the iconoclastic Lloyd's building to the lesser known Livery Halls of the City Guilds.