London has so many of these projects it is a bit insane.
Selfridges Tower
It was proposed that a giant Egyptian-themed tower would have been built atop of the famous department store on London’s Oxford Street.
Image sourced from Londonist: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008...hat-never-were
London Pyramids
There have been several proposals to build giant pyramids in London. The grandioise one on the left was to commemorate British armed forces, whilst the ones of the right were giant mausoleums capable of hosting five million bodies!
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2011/11/unbuilt...kyscrapers.php
Great Tower of London (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkin%27s_Tower)
A 358m (taller) version of the Eiffel Tower was partially built in Wembley as part of a giant leisure ground project by Sir Edward Watkin, a railway man who had a history of dreaming big: he had previously tried to build the Channel Tunnel a century before it actually happened.
The tower would have had Turkish baths, a hotel, winter gardens, theatres, dance halls, observation decks and restaurants, but the tower was only constructed to a height of 47m and suffered from subsidence. It was demolished and eventually became the site of Wembley Stadium.
Image sourced from The Holborn Mag: http://theholbornmag.com/2013/01/08/...unbuilt-london
Some of the proposals were even crazier: some over 600m in height and far ahead of their time in terms of design:
http://publicdomainreview.org/collec...or-london-1890
One with a tram line running around it to the summit
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2013/06/12towers.php
600m+ tall obelisk with a 1/10th replication of the Great Pyramid atop as a crown!
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2013/06/12towers.php
A literal 610m Tower of Babel
with a train running to the summit
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2013/06/12towers.php
Imperial Monument Halls & Tower (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperia...alls_and_Tower)
A crazy project for a 168m tall Gothic complex proposed as an archive, office block and ceremonial chamber for state funerals.
Image sourced from Londonist: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008...hat-never-were
Image sourced from Londonist: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008...hat-never-were
Reform Tower
300m tower to symbolise the Reform Act of the 1830’s.
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2011/11/unbuilt...kyscrapers.php
Millennium Tower
The original design by Foster’s practice for the site which is now home to 30 St Mary Axe (aka the Gherkin) was for a 390m tower.
Image sourced from Londonist: http://londonist.com/2011/11/unbuilt...kyscrapers.php
Green Bird
Proposed in the 90’s for Battersea, this was a 440m leaning tower that would have be over a third taller than the Shard.
Image sourced from Londonist: http://theholbornmag.com/2013/01/08/...unbuilt-london
The Great Victorian Way (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Victorian_Way)
Not really a tower, but there have been a load of other crazy projects over the years (including building entire airports above parts of Central London), one such one project was the Great Victorian Way. This was proposed in the 1850’s by the same team behind the Crystal Palace, but this was on a far larger scale and included three habitable bridges across the Thames.
The ‘building’ (if you could call it that) would have been
10 miles long and had a 4-track atmospheric railway running along the sides. It was in effect a city within a city with shops, offices, residences, and leisure spaces. It didn’t go ahead as funds were allocated towards Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s giant sewer project.
Image sourced from the V&A: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1...ton-joseph-sir