It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London and it contains more monuments than any other church in Greater London except Westminster Abbey, hence it is sometimes referred to as the "Westminster Abbey of the City".
It was the parish church of William Shakespeare when he lived in the area in the 1590s. In 1608, Sir Alberico Gentili, the founder of the science of international law, was buried in the church.
History
The church of St Helen dates from the 12th century and a priory of Benedictine nuns was founded there in 1210. It is unusual in that it was designed with two parallel naves, giving it a wide interior. Until the dissolution of the priory in 1538, the church was divided in two by a partition running from east to west, the northern half serving the nuns and the southern the parishioners. It is the only building from a nunnery to survive in the City of London.
St. Helen's (previously known as the Aviva Tower or the Commercial Union building) is a commercial skyscraper in London. It is 118 metres (387ft) tall and has 23 floors. The postal address is No. 1, Undershaft, though the main entrance fronts onto Leadenhall Street.
The building was designed by the Gollins Melvin Ward Partnership in the international style: the stark rectilinear geometry and detailing of the building was influenced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is somewhat reminiscent of his Seagram Building in New York City. It was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction as one of only four high-rise buildings in London using a top-down engineering design where the lower office floors are suspended from above rather than supported from below.
In 1992 the building was heavily damaged in the Baltic Exchange bombing, as a result of which it was substantially renovated.
The building was sold in 2003 by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to property developer Simon Halabi. In May 2007 it was reported that Halabi was considering plans to demolish the building and replace it with a much taller tower, but this plan was not fulfilled. In May 2011 it was reported that the building had been sold to an undisclosed Far Eastern private investor for £288 million.
Bishopsgate is one of the 25 wards of the City of London and also the name of a major road (part of the A10) between Gracechurch Street and Norton Folgate in the northeast corner of London's main financial district. Bishopsgate is named after one of the original eight gates in the London Wall. The site of this former gate is marked by a stone bishop's mitre, fixed high upon a building located at Bishopsgate's junction with Wormwood Street, by the gardens there and facing the Heron Tower.
Although tens of thousands of people commute to and work in the ward, it has a resident population of only 222 (2011).
Ward geography
The ward (which is large by City standards) is bounded by Worship Street to the north, where the edge of the City meets the boroughs of Islington and Hackney. It neighbours Portsoken ward and the borough of Tower Hamlets in the east. The western boundary is formed by Old Broad Street and Broad Street ward itself. Bishopsgate also bounds the wards of Aldgate (southeast), Coleman Street (west), Cornhill (southwest) and Lime Street (south). Bishopsgate ward straddles the (now former) line of the Wall and the old gate and is often (even today) divided into "Within" and "Without" parts, with a deputy (alderman) appointed for each part.
The Heron Tower (officially 110 Bishopsgate) is a commercial skyscraper in London. It stands 230 metres (755ft) tall including its 28-metre (92ft) mast (202 metres (663ft) excluding the mast) making it the tallest building in the City of London financial district and the third tallest in Greater London and the United Kingdom, after the Shard in Southwark and One Canada Square at Canary Wharf. The Heron Tower is located on Bishopsgate and is bordered by Camomile Street, Outwich Street and Houndsditch.
Construction of the building started in 2007 and was completed in 2011. It is owned by Heron International and is generally known as the Heron Tower, though following a naming dispute in 2014 involving the tenant Salesforce.com the City of London ruled in favour of the property being officially named 110 Bishopsgate. The tower initially struggled to attract tenants in the depths of the Great Recession, but is now fully let.
Mr Taylor, the rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate in the City of London, said the ordinations were “absolutely” a part of the traditionalist clergy’s attempt to establish a “parallel province” for those opposed to same-sex blessings and gay marriage.
