They were thinking, “We’re a modern city, not just a historical city that should be preserved in time for all time, just for you.”
It’s not like it’s the only modern thing in London anyway. There’s a diverse mix of old and new wherever you look. If you want somewhere historical, try York instead. That city still has its huge stone walls, the cathedral etc and they’re quite keen on preserving everything. (You’ll just have to gloss over the Rowntrees factory).
I think the original plan was that it would remain in place for one year - the Millennium year - but everyone loved it, so it stayed.
You mean Bill Clinton House 
As it happens, York has a big wheel, too, right beside the station and the railway museum. It’s quite like the London one, but smaller.
Edinburgh puts up a temporary one for several weeks every winter right beside the Scott Monument on Princes Street, as part of a Winter Funfare.
It’s not as if that stretch of the South Bank is crowded with obvious historic buildings. While one can plausibly argue that the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Festival Hall are now no longer as hated as they once were and the Shell Building and St. Thomas’s Hospital now look merely banal, the whole area is still almost entirely the product of the late twentieth century. The only exceptions are County Hall and the older parts of Waterloo Station. County Hall is bold enough that it just about holds its own against the London Eye.
Even the other side of the river has its fair share of relatively new buildings and few would claim that the river frontage on that side between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge is one of the great architectural views of London. Not exactly ‘A sight so touching in its majesty’…
I’ve wanted to go up in it, but when I’m in the UK I’m with people - who, it turns out, have no interest in touristy stuff. I guess when you live there that kind of stuff isn’t interesting.
I must go up and have a look at this.
That thing is great! It looks like an antique clockwork music box that will start a plinky tune and open up like a flower.
Actually, that is exactly what it does, at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm on Saturdays and public holidays. Be sure to have your camera ready!
This isn’t true, but we to tell foreign tourists stuff like this to see if they’ll believe it.
There is nothing more enjoyable than taking someone on the Wonder Wheel who has no idea of it’s…unique aspects. If someone doesn’t know about the inner track, it’s heart-attack-city once that sucker starts moving though the wheel’s inner structure.
True - and when the Victorian buildings were new, they took their place alongside buildings that were already old, and it was always thus, back to when the Romans were here, and before. Apart from statistical blips like the time it all burned down.
We may love or hate modern architecture, but we should not fear or prevent it.
On a clear day, the 12th, 13th, and 15th tallest* ferris wheels can be seen at the same time in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Oh my, those are ugly.
It’s giant aerial for the Nestine Consciousness so it can animate plastic manakins.
Thank you Kipper. I wanted to say that, too. 
One of my favourite trips was taking the London Eye on the 5[sup]th[/sup] of November after dark. 30 minutes of fireworks going off all over London. It was midweek, and we could have gone up a bit later, but it was really cool.
Si