Richard Rogers's 'inside-out' tower in the insurance district — a high-tech landmark that puts its lifts, ducts, staircases, and services on the exterior, freeing the interior for a vast, flexible trading atrium. Completed in 1986 and now a listed building, it was radical then and remains startling, all stainless steel and exposed machinery glinting among the City's stone. Home to the historic Lloyd's insurance market, it's an office building turned manifesto. For visitors, the exterior is the spectacle — a piece of architectural daring from the same mind behind the Pompidou Centre, best viewed where its metallic guts catch the light.
Location
City of London, London
Map
Insider Intel
The Underwriting Room beneath its 60-metre barrel-vaulted atrium, with the Lutine Bell in the Rostrum and the three-centuries-old Loss Book still written up by quill. Higher up sits the Adam Room, a 1763 Robert Adam dining room moved here piece by piece.
Effectively one day a year, during London's Open House Festival in September, on timed entries — and even that is rare: the 2026 opening was its first since 2014.
Closed to the public at all other times. Free when it does open, but you must register an Open House account and book a timed ticket well in advance, giving full personal details beforehand. Expect standing and movement between floors. Grade I listed — the youngest building ever to be so.