An evening architecture walk the length of Tooley Street highlighting 700 years of riverside architecture, including some of the most important buildings in Southwark.

Often overlooked, Tooley Street offers a parade of, perhaps, the most important ensemble of historic buildings in Southwark. Anchored at the west end by Southwark Cathedral, this tour features the remains of the Regency London Bridge and the restored Edwardian Baroque Findlater’s Corner. We will see Harry Goodhart Rendel’s sensational early-modern St Olaf’s House, wander through the 19th century Hay’s Dock to Aston Webb’s fabulous Free Arts & Crafts style former Boord’s Distillery, now flats.

The re-used Tooley Street Fire Station reminds of the catastrophic 1861 Tooley Street Fire. At the eastern end of Tooley Street we will celebrate the gorgeous Queen Anne Style St. Olaves Grammar School recently re-imagined as the Lalit Hotel. There we will see several fine Renaissance Revival interiors designed by the important late Victorian architect E. W. Mountford with fine architectural sculpture by Paul Raphael Montford RA.

This tour is a must for enthusiasts of London’s late Victorian and early 20th century architecture, brilliantly revived for the 21st century!

Meeting point: Southwark Gateway Needle (1 Tooley St, London SE1 2PF)

The London Festival of Architecture is a month long celebration of architecture and city-making, taking place every June across London. The Festival’s mission is to open up discussions around architecture, test new ideas and uncover and promote new talent. What makes the LFA unique is that the LFA programme is people-led and curated by event organisers; we believe in the power of collaboration with the people who live, shape, and truly know London. It’s the breadth and creativity of this community of event organisers that delivers such a varied and engaging programme of events for the festival each June.