NY DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 24th 2010
U.S. embassy in London
The U.S. embassy in London is going medieval.
A Philadelphia-based architectural firm was chosen to design a new $1-billion embassy across the pond - and it includes a moat.
Local residents had complained about the security barriers outside the current embassy in the Mayfair district, so the new building will include a 100-foot wide reflecting pond that also serves as a barricade.
"They integrated security into the design of an embassy for the 21 century," said State Department spokesman Jonathan Blyth. "Part of its inspiration came from the tradition of English architecture, where they did build moats."
But Blyth was quick to say that the body of water isn't technically a moat. "It's a reflecting pond," he said.
"Our objective is to prevent the possibility of a vehicle getting to the embassy to cause damage," Blyth said. "But we also wanted to make it an inviting area, and urban parks are very important to the landscape here in London.
