The site where the Gherkin stands was originally occupied by the Baltic Exchange, a masterpiece of Edwardian commercial architecture that housed an expansive trading floor behind its elegant stone facade, the building was destroyed by an IRA truck bomb. A landmark on London’s skyline and architectural history; the sleek and shiny exterior of the offices at 30 St Mary Axe hide its credentials as the UK’s first environmentally progressive, commercial high-rise building. It changed the London skyline forever.