20 Fenchurch Street, EC3M
The ’Walkie-Talkie’ (20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London), photographed in 2015.

Shortly before completion, the angled windows set fire to a couple of vehicles when they focused the rays of the sun downwards into nearby streets. This quirk had to be fixed.

Credit: Wiki Commons/Colin
20 Fenchurch Street is a commercial skyscraper in the City of London.

The 38-story address of 20 Fenchurch Street has been nicknamed ’The Walkie-Talkie’ because of its distinctive shape. Construction was completed in spring 2014 and costed over £200 million to build. It is 160 metres in height and 34 floors of office space are topped by a large viewing deck. A bar and restaurants are included on the 35th, 36th and 37th floors.

Designed by Rafael Viñoly, 20 Fenchurch Street features a highly-distinctive ’top-heavy form’.

The tower was originally proposed at nearly 200 metres tall but designs were scaled down after concerns about the visual impact on the nearby St Paul’s Cathedral.


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