Our 10 Most Iconic London Buildings

Yes. So many, you’ll be wondering how to see them all. Here’s a run-down of some famous buildings you’ll recognise immediately from movies, TV and photos.

The King’s official London residence, Buckingham Palace became a royal home in 1762, when George III acquired the site from the Dukes of Buckingham for the Queen and their children. When George IV became monarch in 1820, he appointed architect John Nash to transform the residence into a palace, turning it into the U-shaped building famous the world over today.

The palace forecourt serves as the backdrop for the Changing of the Guard ceremony, when regimental guards with their distinctive red tunics and bearskin hats hand over responsibilities to marching and music. This takes place four days a week at 10:45 am and lasts for about 45 minutes. It’s free, so come early for the best view. Want a peek inside? Visit the magnificent State Rooms on selected guided tour dates during the winter and spring, or embark on a self-guided tour during the summer season, when you can also explore the tranquil Palace Garden.

From a royal residence to a royal church. If you’re wondering what the two most famous buildings in London are, Westminster Abbey, with its twin Gothic towers and Purbeck marble interiors, surely comes in a close second to Buckingham Palace. It’s been the site of coronations since 1066, celebrated 16 royal weddings, and is the final resting place of over 3,000 famous names, including Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela and the Bronte sisters.

To explore this iconic London building, you’ll need to buy a ticket and book a timeslot. Don’t miss the Coronation Chair, occupied by new kings and queens for over 700 years, and the medieval Lady Chapel, with its glorious fan-vaulted ceiling. Upstairs in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, medieval treasures and other exhibits trace the Abbey’s long history.

Just approaching this Greek Revival-style building, with its temple-like columns and sweeping stairs, is an experience in itself. The British Museum was the world’s first national public museum when it opened in 1759, and is home today to a vast collection of art and antiquities from across the globe. Highlights include the Rosetta Stone, which allowed Egyptologists to finally decode hieroglyphs, and the Sutton Hoo ship burial, an Anglo-Saxon grave dating from early AD 600.

The museum is free to enter, but with over 6 million visitors a year, it’s best to book a ticket online beforehand. If the thought of all those galleries is overwhelming, the museum’s curated object trails will help make sure you tick off all the must-sees. As you explore the space, take a moment to marvel at the Norman Foster-designed Great Court, a gorgeous sun-drenched atrium with a glass-and-steel roof made from 3,212 panes of glass.

St Paul’s has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since it was first consecrated in AD 604. The iconic domed London building we know now, with its mix of neoclassical and English baroque styles, was the grand vision of architect Sir Christopher Wren, who had been commissioned to modernise the old St Paul’s before it burned down in 1666. Just like new buildings today, St Paul’s divided opinion when Wren’s designs were made public, with some critics commenting it was not “traditional” enough in appearance.

Tickets to visit St Paul’s are sold online, and include access to the cathedral floor, home to tucked-away chapels and a Grand Organ. Look out for the Geometric Staircase, which featured in the Harry Potter films as the way up to the Divination classroom. It’s also worth climbing the 528 steps up to the Golden Gallery, where you’ll be rewarded with panoramic views across London.

You’ll definitely recognise these iconic London buildings lining the banks of the River Thames. But how much do you really know about them?

Treason, tragedy and royal treasures – the Tower of London has seen them all. The White Tower, a stone keep at the heart of the site, was built by William the Conqueror in the 1070s as a symbol of Norman power. Towers and fortifications were added up until the 16th century, and it’s been the home of kings and queens, as well as a prison and execution site.

There’s plenty to see and do, so book an early slot if you can when you buy your ticket. Guided tours by the Yeoman Warders (nicknamed “Beefeaters” because they were allowed as much beef as they could eat during Henry VII’s reign) are included in the ticket price. Don’t miss the Jewel House, where the Crown Jewels and other impressive royal regalia are kept under armed guard.

The very first Palace of Westminster was believed to have been built in the 11th century. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, it’s been the home of the UK Parliament since the 13th century. Today’s Gothic Revival building, with its elegant spires and limestone facade, was designed by architect Charles Barry following a fire in the mid-1800s. At its northern end stands the Elizabeth Tower, known by most as Big Ben after its 15-tonne bell.

Guided, 90-minute tours of the Palace can be booked online. You can also explore the site at your own pace with a multimedia guide in nine different languages, or visit the public galleries to watch lawmakers engage in verbal sparring. Looking for a place to stay close to this iconic landmark? The Novotel London Waterloo is a 15-minute walk across the river.

If this contemporary art gallery gives off industrial vibes, that’s because it started life as Bankside Power Station, completed in 1963. Its architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, also designed Waterloo Bridge and the charming British red telephone box. Redesigned in the mid-1990s, it’s become an iconic London building showcasing the best of old and new with its cathedral-like brick central chimney and glass roof light box.

Admission is free and gives you access to displays of art and sculpture from over a hundred years, including early 1900s modernism, Picassos and the latest contemporary works. Special exhibitions usually require a paid ticket. Don’t miss Tate Draw, where you can use digital sketch pads to create masterpieces which are then projected onto the wall.

With their distinctive shapes giving rise to nicknames like The Gherkin, The Walkie-Talkie, The Cheese Grater and The Scalpel, it’s no wonder the newest additions to London’s skyline often crop up in crossword clues. Here are our top three.

On the south bank of the Thames just by London Bridge, The Shard, its sleek exterior clad by 11,000 glass panels, pierces the sky at 309.6 m tall. It’s so high it can be spotted from across the city, including nearly 20 km away in the northwest (we’ve checked). Architect Renzo Piano took inspiration from church spires and ship masts, designing the building as a sculpture rising from the river.

For some of the best views across London, book a ticket for the Viewing Gallery, where an ear-popping high-speed lift will whizz you to the 68th floor. Order a cocktail at the bar and gaze at the capital from the 69th-floor observation deck, or – if you dare – step out onto the open air sky deck on the 72nd floor.

Love it or hate it, 20 Fenchurch Street isn’t a building you forget easily. Its unapologetic, blocky silhouette brings to mind retro brick mobile phones, which is why it’s dubbed The Walkie-Talkie. At 160 m high, it’s curved at the top to create more floor area than its ground footprint would conventionally allow – but this concave reflective glass also accidentally melted a car during the building’s construction in the early 2010s.

The Sky Garden, a leafy, sunny space on the top floors of the building, is free to enter but tickets, which are released every Monday, must be booked in advance and go fast. You can also book a table at one of the restaurants and bars there. 

Is it a bullet? A rocket? A cucumber? One of the most iconic office buildings in London, 30 St Mary Axe is best known by its nickname, The Gherkin. This Norman Foster-designed skyscraper, with its spiral pattern, was completed in 2003 and stands at 180 m tall. Interestingly, despite the building’s curved shape, all of the glass panels except for the ones on the very top are flat. The building doesn’t have a public viewing gallery, but you can still get views from 40 floors up if you book a table at Helix Restaurant or Iris Bar. 

London was established by the Romans in around AD 47 along the north bank of the River Thames, serving as a major trading hub until it was abandoned five centuries later. You can still spot glimpses of the Roman era in the City of London today, where moss-covered stone walls stand timelessly amid towering office blocks. The next significant turning point in London’s architectural history was in 1066, with the Norman invasion of Britain. Of William the Conqueror’s various fortresses established on the banks of the River Thames, built to serve as symbols of both power and deterrence, only the Tower of London still remains.

Fast forward six centuries to 1666, when the Great Fire of London, which started in a bakery and lasted four days, razed most of the city to the ground. One of the Baroque architects tasked with rebuilding the capital was Sir Christopher Wren. His most famous legacy? St Paul’s Cathedral, a fixture on the London skyline with its graceful dome. The Georgian and Regency eras followed, their stucco facades and sweeping colonnades immortalised in many of London’s townhouses and residential buildings, plus landmarks like Buckingham Palace.

In contrast, the Victorian age, from the mid-1800s to the turn of the century, was all about extravagance fuelled by increasing prosperity on the back of the Industrial Revolution. Think Gothic-inspired flourishes, rich colour schemes and steeply pitched rooflines – like the Palace of Westminster. After WWII, much of the capital had to be rebuilt again, and buildings started to get higher and higher. As glass, steel and other modern materials replaced bricks and mortar, buildings rose in all shapes and silhouettes, from the acute angles of The Shard to the gentle curves of The Gherkin. 

London’s iconic buildings are renowned worldwide as much for their distinctive architecture and innovative engineering as for their rich political and cultural history. There’s no shortage of incredible sights that make up the city’s one-of-a-kind skyline, so book your stay in London and get exploring today!