Nicknames of Famous London Skyscrapers
London has many peculiarities including the fact that many of its skyscrapers and landmarks have nicknames. The most famous of these buildings with interesting nicknames include the following.
Can of Ham: Due to its unique looks, this 24-storey building at 69-70 St Mary’s Axe has acquired this nickname. Although the building has still remained on the drawing board, it has become famous for this nickname. It is likely to give good company to its neighbour, The Gherkin.
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Cheesegrater or the Leadenhall Building: With 47 floors of office and a height of 224m, this building includes 7 storeys of landscape open space, rarely seen in London. Its peculiar shape is distinctive as it slants or tapers as it goes up with the result that the floor size of each storey varies ranges from 550 to 6000 square metres. Another reason for choosing this special shape was to avoid its intrusion into the sight line of St Paul’s Cathedral when viewed along Fleet Street and up Ludgate Hill. It was nicknamed Cheesegrater because of its wedge shape.
Gherkin: This was originally the Swiss Re Tower and was renamed as St Mary Axe after it was sold by Swiss Re to Trafalgar House in 1995. It has a curved shape that can be seen from far away, quite in contrast to other famous landmarks such as Tower Bridge, the London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral. Featuring innovative designs, this structure’s design makes great use of daylight and natural ventilation and thereby saves half the energy that would typically be required for an office block.
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Pringle or Olympic Cycle Track: The unusual shape of the roof has of this Olympic Cycle track that features a lower tier of 3,500 seats and an upper tier of 2,500 seats with the seating tiers divided by a 360 degree concourse level, led Londoner’s to give it the nickname of “Pringle”, after the famous crisp brand.
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Helter-Skelter or The Pinnacle: The Pinnacle Tower winds its way up to around 287m (80 floors) in London’s financial district. A series of complex shapes make up the tower earning it this nickname. However, it incorporates most down-to-earth features also such as the restoration of an ancient public right-of-way which will link it to other notable landmarks along Bishopsgate and St. Mary Axe.
