25 Stunning Architecture Landmarks in London
25 landmarks with verified facts and stories
Barbican Conservatory
Silk Street, City of London, London, EC2Y 8DS, United Kingdom
Six storeys above the stage of the Barbican Theatre, hidden inside one of the most brutalist buildings in London, there is a tropical rainforest.
Big Ben & Houses of Parliament
Parliament Square, City of Westminster, London, SW1P 3AD, United Kingdom
Strictly speaking, Big Ben is not a tower.
British Museum
Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG
The British Museum is the world's largest museum of stolen goods, depending on who you ask.
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA
This is the house that George III bought for his wife in 1761 because she found St James's Palace too stuffy.
Covent Garden
City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Covent Garden was London's first piazza, designed by Inigo Jones in the 1630s on land owned by the Earl of Bedford.
Eltham Palace
Court Yard, Greenwich, London, SE9 5NP, United Kingdom
Eltham Palace is what happens when a medieval royal residence meets a 1930s millionaire couple with exceptional taste and no interest in restraint.
Goodwin's Court
City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Most people walk past the entrance to Goodwin's Court without noticing it.
Highgate Cemetery (West)
Swain's Lane, Camden, London, N6, United Kingdom
This place was built because London was literally drowning in its own dead.
Kensington Palace
Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom
William III bought this place in 1689 because Whitehall Palace was making his asthma worse.
Leadenhall Market
Gracechurch Street, City of London, London, EC3V, United Kingdom
You're standing inside one of London's most beautiful Victorian buildings — all ornate ironwork, painted ceilings, and cobblestones.
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN, United Kingdom
Unlike nearly every other great European museum, the National Gallery wasn't built on a nationalised royal collection.
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road, Kensington and Chelsea, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
The building itself is a specimen.
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
21 New Globe Walk, Southwark, London, SE1 9DT, United Kingdom
The building you're looking at is a reconstruction.
South Bank & Bankside
South Bank, London SE1
For most of its history, the south bank of the Thames was where London went to do the things it wasn't allowed to do on the north bank.
St Bartholomew the Great
West Smithfield, City of London, London, EC1A 9DS, United Kingdom
London's oldest church with continuous services was founded by a jester who had a fever dream.
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul’s Churchyard, City of London, London, EC4M 8AD, United Kingdom
Look up at that dome.
Tate Modern
Bankside, Southwark, London, SE1, United Kingdom
This building used to burn oil to power London.
Temple Church
Temple, City of London, London, EC4Y 7BB, United Kingdom
You're standing outside a Crusader church.
The Monument to the Great Fire of London
Fish Street Hill, London EC3R 8AH
You're looking at one of the cleverest structures in London, and almost nobody knows the half of it.
The Painted Hall, Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College, King William Walk, London SE10 9NN
They call this Britain's Sistine Chapel, and for once the comparison isn't hyperbole.
The Shard
32 London Bridge St, London SE1 9SG
Renzo Piano sketched the first concept for this building on the back of a napkin at a Berlin restaurant.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP
Everyone calls it London Bridge, and everyone is wrong.
Trafalgar Square & Nelson's Column
Trafalgar Sq, City of Westminster, London, WC2N 5DN, United Kingdom
Nelson stands 51.
V&A Museum
Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RL
The V&A began life in 1852 as the "Museum of Manufactures" — a name so dull it practically dared people not to visit.
York Watergate
15-16 Buckingham St, City of Westminster, London, WC2N 6DU, United Kingdom
This ornate stone arch sitting in the middle of a garden looks completely out of place.
Explore architecture in London
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.