Fortress America

Most other embassies in London are sanely and appropriately housed in the historical and gorgeous row-buildings in Mayfair. But not US. We had to build a hideous and enormous concrete ediface redolent of soviet-style architecture at its most souless, probably knocking down a whole block of lovely buildings in the process.

Complete with giant golden eagle. Nice.
Not content with blighting one of the nicest squares in London, now the US embassy is "applying for permission to install rising bollards in Upper Grosvenor Street and Upper Brook Street so that - at times of heightened security - they can be raised, and the roads around the embassy sealed off". Nevermind the aesthetic horror of turning Grosvenor square into a concrete bunker. The traffic disruption alone is unacceptable.

On a bizarre side-note, Countess Anca Vidaeff (who lives in Upper Brook Street) is going on a hunger strike to protest this. Why she thinks anybody will care is beyond me.

(No links. I don't think the "Mayfair Times" is online. Article is from the September 05 issue for the record.)