The Tower, Colliers Wood, London
The design of an office block is rarely the responsibility of a single mind, and you have to wonder what cabal of insanity dreamt up this one, formerly Lyon Tower at Colliers Wood. Towers of various heights (this one’s storeys reach the mid-teens) popped up across the suburbs in a late 60s sprouting, and while they frequently look drab and lacklustre today, The Tower is of a different aesthetic order altogether – a demonic piece of architecture that seems to bear a not inconsiderable malice against the people of Colliers Wood. In 2008 there were plans to renovate the building and it has been covered in green netting since 2009 to prevent injury from falling bits of concrete. The latest plans seem to be for complete demolition of The Tower, though one suspects that might unleash the very hounds of hell into the borough of Merton.
As you might have imagined, demolition has not happened; the structure is now gutted and is being redeveloped as residential apartments with a great view of the shopping centres of Colliers Wood – yipee!