Description

249/0/10272

LOTS ROAD
27, London County Council pumping station

06-NOV-07

GV
II
Storm water pumping station in a Classical style. 1904 by London County Council Works Department under Chief Engineers Sir Alexander Binnie then Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice.

MATERIALS: Red and glazed brick with terracotta dressings and plaques. Slate roof.

PLAN: Rectangular plan with the majority of the plant on the ground floor other than pumps and water outlets located at basement level.

EXTERIOR: Principal elevation to the north-west flanking Lots Road. Nine bays with the central three projecting. Glazed brick to impost level, red brick above with terracotta dressings and plaques. Parapet to the three central projecting bays decorated between brick piers with three terracotta plaques which read: 'London', 'County' and 'Council'. Foliate terracotta roundels also decorate this central section. Paired round arched windows with iron glazing bars throughout within round arched frames with terracotta keystones and mouldings. Projecting exhaust pipes of 1998 with original exhaust stacks hidden behind parapet. North-east and south-west elevations similarly treated although have pedimented gables with oeil-de-boeuf windows. The south-east elevation is almost entirely blank and the glazed and red brick treatment of the public elevations does not extend to this rear elevation. It has large central panelled double doors to the roadside façade with a further pair of large double doors in the north-east elevation. The pumping station is surrounded to its north-west and south-west by a low red brick wall with projecting piers and iron railings. Iron gates allow access to the main west entrance.

INTERIOR: Iron truss roof, boarded, with glazed sky-lights. Glazed brick polychrome surfaces. Ground floor: 1930s office accommodation in the central south-eastern part of the building. Fuel and water tanks at ground and mezzanine level. Plant including: electricity supply area; three mid C20 electric 'slip-ring' motors; five identical 1930s combustion engines by Belliss & Morcom, and their gear boxes (by David Brown & Sons (Huddersfield) Ltd), to drive pumps. Historic gauges (indicating sewer and tidal levels), signage and clock. Basement: accessed by stairs at the north-east and south-east of building. These have metal balusters and wooden banisters and lead down to the pumps and storm water outlet pipes. Five main pumps and pipes (by Staveley) are date stamped 1931 and 1932.

HISTORY: The Pumping Station was built in the early years of the C20, becoming operational in 1904, to serve the expanded London main drainage system to pump storm water into the Thames. A series of storm water pumping stations were built in London in the C19-early C20 including three by the Metropolitan Board of Works (the precursor to the LCC) and a number by the LCC. Most have now been demolished or replaced. Lots Road was designed by the LCC Works Department, where the chief engineer for the design was Sir Alexander Binnie with amendments by his successor Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice. Originally powered by gas engines, the plant was updated in the early 1930s when the present diesel combustion engines, by Belliss & Morcom, were installed. This firm is better known for the manufacture of compressors than combustion engines so therefore have some interest as an unsual product by them. Some of the pumps and pipes are also of this date as is the office accommodation. Further modifications took place in the late 1950s/early 1960s including the addition of a further three small pumps.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
Lots Road Pumping Station is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* A high quality example of Edwardian public utility architecture
* The earliest and best surviving example of a storm water pumping station by the Metropolitan Board of Works and LCC and the most architecturally decorative and accomplished
* A little altered original building but with secondary fixtures, fittings, office accommodation, plant and gauges of 1930s date which are also of interest.

SOURCES: E Harwood, Pumping Station, Lot's Road, RB Kensington & Chelsea. Unpublished English Heritage report (1991).
English Heritage, Monuments Protection Programme Water & Sewage Industry Step Report (2001).

Reasons for Listing

Lots Road Pumping Station is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* A high quality example of Edwardian public utility architecture
* The earliest and best surviving example of a storm water pumping station by the Metropolitan Board of Works and LCC and the most architecturally decorative and accomplished
* A little altered original building but with secondary fixtures, fittings, office accommodation, plant and gauges of 1930s date which are also of interest.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Lots Road Power Station at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q1871101

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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