Discarded designs and rejected plans lurk behind every important building in London. Our streets are lined with unfulfilled good intentions. These plans were sometimes serious considerations, sometimes academic exercises into what might be and sometimes designed purely to amuse. Often inspired by classical design, famous architectural feats or sights from other cities, the plans suggest a very different view of London. Designs could be rejected because of politics and social position, as well as because the monarch or government did not like the plans or see them as feasible due to cost or practicality. The plans were commonly designed to address problems within the city, such as the danger of traffic, congestion on the narrow streets or to replace slum areas.

London Metropolitan Archives holds the official archives of all the major public authorities specific to London until 1986. This includes all the records of the planning functions of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, City of London Corporation, Middlesex County Council, London County Council and the Greater London Council. This forms a vast number of architectural drawings and plans for public buildings, housing, roads and engineering works, bridges, schools, theatres, concert halls and prisons.

This gallery presents some of our finest images of buildings planned for London but never realised. To discover more, try searching or use the London Picture Map to focus on a location.