{"id":120466,"date":"2016-12-07T18:16:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T18:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fourseasons.com\/magazine\/?p=120466"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:51:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:51:02","slug":"london-history-famous-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fourseasons.com\/magazine\/discover\/london-history-famous-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Buildings That Define the City of London"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why are 10 million visitors from around the world drawn each year to the City of London? The compact area around Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge<\/a> offers unmatched access to the past, present and future of England.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Over two millennia, innumerable important buildings were erected that tell the evolving, three-dimensional story of London. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The City of London is London in miniature, but also on its grandest scale. Within the streets and alleyways of the Square Mile, as it\u2019s often called, lie many of London\u2019s most intriguing and historic buildings.<\/p>\n

The City today encompasses much the same area and shape as the city the Romans founded after their conquest of Britain in AD 43. The River Thames \u2013 wider and shallower then \u2013 was narrow enough here to bridge, but deep enough to allow ships to come and go from the coast, making it the perfect spot for a trading post. Londinium, as the Roman city was named, rose along the river\u2019s northern banks; it was a commercial and connected city from day one.<\/p>\n

Over two millennia, innumerable important buildings were erected: public spaces, places of worship, grand private houses, banks, offices. Here are 10 of the best, whose stones \u2013 and glass and steel \u2013 tell the evolving, three-dimensional story of London.<\/p>\n

Roman Amphitheatre | AD 70<\/h2>\n

Where it began<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Guildhall Yard was built on the site of the Roman city’s amphitheatre. Today, a subterranean display gives an evocative impression of the amphitheatre’s scale, and its outlines are traced above ground in the paving of Guildhall Yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Photography courtesy Martin Morrell<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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