London's Changing Skyline, Views from St Paul's Cathedral 1981 and 2023

In 1981 I visited St Paul's Cathedral and took some pictures of London from the highest viewing point at the top of the dome and have come back over 40 years later to see how the views have changed! Including Mondial House, Cannon Street Railway station, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Monument, The Barbican, Post Office Tower, BT Tower, Centre Point, Blackfriars Railway Station, London Weekend Television Building, ITV, Shell Building, Houses of Parliament, OXO building and NatWest Tower, Tower 42.
In the far distance, Docklands and Vauxhall / Battersea Developments.
St Paul's Cathedral, Whispering Gallery, Stone Gallery, Golden Gallery, Crypt.
I will also cover a bit of history and the practicalities of visiting and information on some of the buildings.
Please stay to the end for all the detail, there has been a lot of change.
I hope you enjoy, Please like and subscribe, thank you for watching Eclectic Experience change seen through images.
St Paul's Cathedral is located here right in the middle of the City of London. Probably the easiest place to see it from is its opposite, Tate Modern, across the Millennium Bridge.
Some History- incredibly this is the 5th St Paul's on this site, the first being built around 604 AD with the 4th, the Norman Building burning down during The Great Fire of London in 1666.
The current St Paul's Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and finished in 1710. It has even managed to survive during the blitz in World War 2.
It is built on the highest part of the City of London and incredibly up until 1963 the tallest building in London. By the time I visited in 1981 that had changed, but it was still before the bulk of the sky scrapers we see today were built.
In 1981 it was a really good place to view London from as one of the few high vantage points and despite the gloomy weather on the day we could see some pretty impressive and interesting views.
In addition St Paul's is one of the few buildings in the country that has views of itself actually protected and this has been since 1937 by something called the St Paul's Heights, it is enforced by the City of London Corporation and it does mean we still get some really good views.
Sources:
stpauls.co.uk

[@eatinsomtin9984]

I'm loving these videos especially the ones where you show the skyline changes. Keep it up!

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thank you

[@rontanser9369]

Yes thank you that was incredibly interesting how much everything is changed

[@aalexjohna]

Alright, calm down- don't piss your pants.

[@eatinsomtin9984]

@@aalexjohna Considering your account is from 2006, you probably aren't much younger mate.

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thank you, yes this one really surprised me for the extent of the change

[@highplainsdrifter2447]

Nice work. The 1981 view from St. Paul's @ 08.45 showing the traditional Victorian and Georgian buildings to the West is my favourite.

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it

[@marashdemnika5833]

Could you create a video about Elephant and Castle?

[@eclecticexperience1]

I will need to check if I have any old photos, good suggestion

[@LDNWC]

At 6:26 that is the Euston tower on the left, centre point is on the right of BT tower. Image is flipped for some reason?

[@alexbernard8907]

London, looked much better before they started building all those ugly skyscrapers in the 1980s and the ugly millennium dome, and the big wheel called the London eye, and other ugly tall structures built so far this 21st century,

[@salus1231]

You're talking complete crap mate. London's skyline and architecture was dystopian in parts in the 1980's
and could be grim and 1960's drecky grey. It's a world away from those days. Those skyscraper clusters
are quite iconic now and the contemporary architecture far more aesthetic than a lot of the the shit London
got in the 60s and 70's You can tell by comparing the 1981 pics and the 2023 or aren't you wearing your
glasses! However with that said I don't like the Millennium Dome