City Hall

The City Hall is a futuristic building in the city of London that, to the surprise of many, represents the town hall of the city. The main London authorities are represented in this building and its facilities are used as a chamber for the Assembly. What makes it interesting at the tourism level?

City Hall: architecture

The City Hall was opened in 2002 and its oval architectural design was created by the popular architect Norman Foster. The glass building draws attention on the banks of the River Thames, next to the Tower Bridge and right on the opposite side of the Tower of London.

And not only the futuristic armored glass architecture draws attention. The City Hall measures 45 meters high, subdivided into 10 different floors and despite being designed with the aim of safeguarding energy efficiency, it has been completed demonstrating that energy consumption is, in fact, inefficient.

As a curious fact regarding its spherical shape, it is worth mentioning the nickname that the former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, placed on him: the crystal testicle. The current mayor of the city, Boris Johnson has been somewhat more restrained and has referred to him as the onion of the city.

The most surprising thing of its interior? Without any doubt, its helical staircase that reaches the top of the building and has been compared with the famous Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It really imposes to reach up.

Visit to City Hall

City hall visits are available to London citizens and tourists Monday through Friday. If you are lucky you will be allowed to climb to the top where the roof of the building is located and from which the views are simply stunning. Unfortunately, they rarely let visitors go up and the truth is that it is difficult for them to let you see the entire building.

If you are going to visit London for several days, we recommend you to make a small visit to the City Hall (the entrance is free) but if you are going to spend only 2 or 3 days in the city it is better that you do not waste your time in seeing this building and employing your time in parks, museums and more interesting monuments.

In case you decide to get to know this building you can take advantage and see the sunken amphitheater known as The Scoop that is right next door and that hosts outdoor performances during the summer months. You can also see the famous battleship HMS Belfast, stationed on the River Thames.

How to get to City Hall

The City Hall, as we have mentioned previously, is located next to London bridge, on the opposite side of the River Thames than the Tower of London.

The exact municipality in which this city hall is located is that of Southwark and the nearest metro station is London Bridge.