Canary Wharf
Built 1988 to today
Designed by various architects.
Canary Wharf blazed a trail for urban regeneration in this country. It was developed on the site of the former West India Docks which closed in 1980. The first buildings, including One Canada Square, were completed in 1991. It has subsequently become, alongside The City, the leading financial district of the UK.
Here are some key buildings:
One Canada Square (1991)
Between 1991-2012 this was the tallest building in the UK. It was nicknamed ‘Vertical Fleet Street’ when eight national newspapers made it their home. Clad in stainless steel it initially caused 100,000 people to lose their television signal until the BBC built a new relay station. The then Prince Charles declared he “would go mad if I had to work in a place like that.”
Cascades (1988)
Nicknamed ‘yuppie towers’, it was the first high-rise development on the Isle of Dogs. Great post-modernist buildings take a pluralistic approach to influences and features. Cascades is a prime example of this with nods to a Docklands coal conveyor, the portholes and funnels of an ocean liner, the remnants of a warehouse and some good old brutalist inspired concrete.
Cabot Place (1991)
The yuppies needed to flash their cash somewhere so four floors of retail therapy was opened three years after Cascades was finished.
Canary Riverside Plaza Hotel (1999)
The 5* hotel was built on the West India Quay (once the centre of the British spice trade). Based on designs by Philippe Starck and inspired by Ancient Egypt.
