Watch The Birth of Modern London (1970) : Full Movie Online Free The Birth of Modern London. Londoners rebuilt London in record time after the Great Fire. The symbol of the new city was Christopher Wren's St. Paul's. London became the hub of the worldwide British Empire. Under Queen Victoria London became home to several world class museums and host to the consummate symbol of the Empire and man's conquest of the arts and nature, the Great Exhibition of 1851.