30 St Mary Axe to flight paths for both London City and London Heathrow airports; the revised plan for a lower tower was accepted. The tower's topmost panoramic dome, known as the "lens", recalls the iconic glass dome that covered part of the ground floor of the Baltic Exchange and much of which is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum. "The Gherkin" nickname was applied to the current building at least as long ago as 1999, referring to that plan's highly unorthodox layout and appearance. On 23 August 2000, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott granted planning permission to construct a building much larger
St Mary Axe of the former buildings of the Baltic Exchange and the UK Chamber of Shipping (destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1992). The street originates as a turn off Houndsditch at its northern end, with traffic flowing one-way southbound, and it originates at its southern end as a turn off Leadenhall Street, with traffic flowing one-way northbound. Both one-way portions of St Mary Axe converge at Bevis Marks, where traffic is forced westward into Camomile Street. "Number 70 St Mary Axe" appears in several novels by the British author Tom Holt as the address of a firm of sorcerers headed by