This huge hulk was originally built, deliberately, in two halves. The first was completed in 1935 the second was added in 1944-55. It was one of a series of power stations, Bankside, Fulham and Kingston among them, that were built along the Thames to be served by coal brought by barge. A feature of this building program was its coincidence with the realisation that smoke, from the multitude of coal fires in the Victorian and Edwardian suburbanization of Greater London, had to be eliminated from the atmosphere. The legislation and other smoke abatement programs anticipated the achievement of health improvements comparable to that which the Victorians' gained from constructing the sewage system. In and about the power station considerable effort was put into the decoration of the interior with great faience faced representations of classical columns, marble-lined walls and massive bronze doors incorporating sculptured panels. However it is the immense square block with the four fluted white chimneys that is one of the best known landmarks of the central London Thames riverside. The history of the building's degradation since the plant ceased to produce electricity, in 1983, is pitiful.

O/S Co-ords:2896.7750
Source(s):

The Buildings of England - London 2: South