Tetris – The only station on the London Underground map that is entirely in a skyscraper
After millennia of development with homes, businesses, pubs and restaurants jostling for space, London sometimes feels like the final seconds of a game of Tetris.
In that seemingly endless mission to fit as much in as possible, you end up getting a pretty weird combinations of buildings.
Offices in boats.
Restaurants under book shops.
And in East London there’s a train station in a skyscraper.
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The station in question is Heron Quays on the DLR line.
It’s in the Canary Wharf area of Tower Hamlets, in that strange area that was industrial wasteland until about 40 years ago but now feels like you’re in a future designed solely by bankers.
The history of that stretch of the DLR is a little strange anyway because it was built before all the offices it now serves were there.
So when it first opened in 1987 all you could really do was catch a train straight to that previously mentioned wasteland.
Thankfully the area grew into its rail system is now a thriving business centre.
The station we have today isn’t the original but was rebuilt in 2001.
As the area grew up, it was decided that the space would be better used as a skycraper.
To accommodate the two, it was integrated into the new Lehman Brothers building at 25 Bank Street.
They famously went bankrupt following the 2008 financial crisis and the building was bought by J.P. Morgan.
The skycraper was built around the DLR, which continued to run.
Looking from the outside it looks like a relatively normal building just with a segment cut out the bottom.
Strange yes, but this is London.
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