Church of St Mary Axe the location of the Baltic Exchange until it was destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1992; the Exchange is now located at No. 38 just to the north of its former address. On the site of the old Baltic Exchange now stands 30 St Mary Axe, a skyscraper known colloquially as the Gherkin because of its distinctive shape. The street of St Mary Axe was also the location of the sorcerer's shop in Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "The Sorcerer", which documents the former pronunciation "Simmery Axe". The church that remains in the modern-day St Mary Axe is St Andrew Undershaft.
30 St Mary Axe on the design of the building, said in 2011 that he believed the style was now out-moded: "I was looking at the glass all around and [thought], 'Why on earth did we do that?' Now we would do things differently". The building featured in recent films such as "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince", Russell Crowe's "A Good Year", Sharon Stone's "Basic Instinct 2", and Woody Allen's "Match Point" and, rechristened the "Spirit of London", became the spaceship centrepiece of Keith Mansfield's 2008 novel "Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London". In September 2006, the building was put up