I had my cameras with me because I was interested in photographing a building in Tooley Street, but when I passed by City Hall on this particular Sunday afternoon, I discovered that it was open and was free to view! I did have to submit to having my bags searched, but after that I was free to take the lift to the top of the building and to go out onto the observation balcony. I was even lucky enough to see a Tower Bridge lift while I was up there! Then I descended through the building via the spiral ramp, stopping off at the meeting chamber of the Greater London Authority. I have saved up my Tower Bridge pictures for another page, and here I am showing you some internal and external pictures of this building. I often refer to it as "Ken's Egg", after Ken Livingstone, the Mayor, but I have also heard it referred to as "The Glass Testicle".
If you want to see a larger image of any of these pictures, please click on the picture.
City Hall was designed by architects Foster and Partners and opened in July 2002. The Greater London Authority have leased it for 25 years.
The distinctive "squashed elipse" shape of the building is designed to be energy efficient.
Here's one I took earlier, while the building was still under construction.
The meeting chamber, pictured on the left, is on the second floor and affords view across the Thames to The City. I was allowed to go and stand on the floor of the chamber and obtained the view on the right of the spiral ramp which snakes down through the building.
My final two images were taken looking into the meeting chamber from the spiral ramp. The upper image is another view of the spiral ramp, while the lower view is of the meeting chamber and its auditorium.
