The London Traveler

Bankside Power Station was lucky. It got refurbished, and made into Tate Modern.

Battersea Power Station is its unlucky cousin. If anything, it’s even more iconic – its four protruding chimneys dominate the south-west London skyline. But it’s been through many hands, a trading token in the hands of property developers, being sold on rather than developed – and decaying as the years go by.

Like Bankside, it was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. While the two power stations are obviously different characters, they share similarities – the huge window panels, the Modernist aesthetic, the strength and even brutality of the architecture. Started in 1929 and completed ten years later, the power station is a powerful statement. Inside, even the control room was a fine piece of Art Deco work.

Buildings of this style were often hated. In Cambridge, Giles Gilbert Scott’s University Library has been hated by generations of students. But somehow, Battersea’s fluted white chimneys and red brick solidity struck a chord in the hearts of Londoners, and it became one of the capital’s most loved buildings.

(Now here’s a nice bit of trivia. Originally, Battersea only had two chimneys – one on each end. It was only when the power station was expanded, and a second turbine hall added alongside the original, that it got all four – like a billiard table on its back.)

Battersea Power Station has now been closed for more than twenty years. First, Alton Towers wanted to develop it as a theme park, but couldn’t raise the funding. The company did manage to take the machinery out – smashing huge holes in the roof.

Then the building was sold to Parkview, which stated that it wanted to create a mixed use  development on the site. Nothing happened to that, either, and it turned out that Parkview wanted to demolish the chimneys.

Now, the site has been sold again, and the Parkview scheme has been dropped. A new architect, Rafael Vinoly, has been appointed – and the whole process is set to begin again. Given planning constraints (this is a grade II* listed building) it’s unlikely building will begin for six or seven years.

The Battersea Power Station Community Group was set up to look after this helpless Leviathan’s interests. You can check up on the latest news on its website – including the explosions set off during filming of Batman: The Dark Knight which had many local residents calling the police!

But while the Power Station has entered a new lease of life as a filming location, it doesn’t seem to have been properly maintained. Is this any way to look after our national heritage?

Photo credit: Jon Bennett on Flickr

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