The two World Wars saw huge destruction, to both the populace and the city and some terrible rebuilding followed, with little real conservation work - many of the city's worst buildings date from this time, when the Greater London Council changed the face of the old city forever. It's said that the GLC did more damage to London than the Luftwaffe.
London's architectural revival started with the completion of the Lloyd's building by Sir Richard Rogers in 1979 - and despite some terrible blunders (the most of them under Margaret Thatcher - the destruction of Battersea Power Station being the most obvious) and some corporate vandalism mostly committed in the City, by developers too close to the Corporation (Sir Peter Palumbo's destruction of the old Mappin and Webb building to erect one of London's most hideous monstrosities above Bank station, the destruction of Spitalfields market) London is beginning to rival Paris in its Grand Projects. However, whether much of the old London will remain as developers pry on the greed of local and city councils remains in question.
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