Summary
The former London Fire Brigade Headquarters Building and Fire Station, known as Lambeth Fire Station in 2023, built to the designs of the LCC architect EP Wheeler FRIBA, assisted by G Weald FRIBA, built 1936-7.
Reasons for Designation
Lambeth Fire Station, built 1937 to the design of EP Wheeler FRIBA, Architect to the London County Council, assisted by G Weald, FRIBA is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural Interest:
* as a well-composed, landmark public building in a broadly Moderne idiom which survives reasonably well externally and retains important features such as the ground floor appliance doors, and the viewing terraces and control kiosk at the rear;
* for the important sculptural reliefs to the principal frontage by the distinguished C20 sculptors Gilbert Bayes, SN Babb and FP Morton;
* for the interior features of interest, including the main entrance hall with its memorial sculpture, firemens’ poles and stairs.
Historic Interest:
* as the former headquarters of the London Fire Brigade, the most important fire brigade nationally and the third largest in the world. The building was the centre of London's fire-fighting operations in WWII;
Group Value:
* with the separately listed drill tower and unlisted former technical school and workshops (The Workshops) on the east side of Lambeth High Street.
History
Much has been written about the history of fire-fighting and the development of fire stations in London, see Sources below for further detail.
The former London Fire Brigade Headquarters Building at 8 Albert Embankment (known as Lambeth Fire Station in 2023) marks the close of a long and remarkable programme of fire-station building which began in 1866 with the formation of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), the first publicly-funded authority charged with saving lives and protecting buildings from fire. Initially part of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the earliest fire stations were generally plain brick and few pre-1880 examples survive. In the 1880s under the MFB architect Robert Pearsall, the fire station acquired a true architectural identity, most notably in the rich Gothic style typical of Victorian municipal buildings such as Bishopsgate. It was the building boom of the 1890s-1900s however that was to transform fire station architecture and give the Brigade some of its most characterful buildings. In 1889 the fire brigade came under the control of the newly-formed London County Council (LCC), and from 1896 new stations were designed by a group of architects led by Owen Fleming and Charles Canning Winmill, both formerly of the LCC Housing Department, who brought the highly-experimental methods which had evolved for designing new social housing to the Fire Brigade Division, as the department was called from 1899, and drew on a huge variety of influences to create unique and commanding stations, each built to a bespoke design and plan. This exciting period in fire station design continued to the outbreak of the First World War, although there was some standardisation of design in the period. No new fire stations were built between 1916-1925, and only a few up to the Second World War, and when building resumed, a more functional, stripped-down idiom was employed.
The new headquarters of the London Fire Brigade on Albert Embankment replaced the first HQ of 1876 in Southwark Bridge Road (listed Grade II) which was judged to be too constricted by 1929. After careful research into the requirements of the new headquarters, and suitability of the site, it was built on land formerly occupied by the London Pottery of Doulton & Co purchased for £85k in 1934, including the disused Stiff's Dock at the north end. Two parcels of land were deemed sufficient to accommodate the new headquarters; the front plot facing Albert Embankment and the rear plot further to the east, facing Lambeth High Street. The Architect and Building News article of 19th February 1937 (see Sources) notes that it was considered a disadvantage that the site was bisected by Lambeth High Street (also known as Lambhithe at the time) but acknowledged that it made it possible to group the buildings in clear distinction for their widely separate functions. The site fronting Albert Embankment was devoted to the control and administrative centre of the whole Brigade, in addition to the fire station with its rear yard and drill tower, and the site fronting Lambeth High Street was to provide workshops for the repair and maintenance of the Brigade’s motor vehicles and other equipment, garages and the training school. The pontoon onto the Thames accommodated the river fire station (rebuilt in the C21).
Located on a prominent site facing the Thames, all buildings on the site (apart from the obelisk) were designed during the five year tenure of EP Wheeler (1874-1944) as Architect to the Council, assisted by G Weald and possibly also by Frederick Hiorns, who succeeded Wheeler as Architect to the LCC in 1939. Its broadly Moderne style, with severe geometry, complemented other contemporary buildings nearby such as the now demolished neighbouring WH Smith building to the north, a striking Art Deco composition of 1933 by HO Ellis and Clarke. Wheeler was a stalwart of the LCC Architect’s Department, who specialised in housing schemes, but with HFT Cooper (the architect of four listed London fire stations) extended the Grade-II listed South Thames College in Wandsworth and designed the former Central St Martin’s building on Charing Cross Road in 1939 (unlisted).
The headquarters complex was opened on 21st June 1937 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth as recorded on British Pathe film (see Sources). Contemporary journals reported the facilities of the site in much detail, with plans, and these are summarised here. The complex comprised the administrative headquarters of London firefighting, fully centrally heated, the principal building having, at the ground floor, a working fire station at the centre of the building with seven ‘run-outs’ for appliances onto Albert Embankment and four stainless steel firemens’ poles; a main entrance at the south end (leading to the ‘memorial hall’ in 2023) which in turn led to the watch room; a secondary entrance to the north with a gym adjacent and a two storey rear wing facing Black Prince Road, housing canteens, the museum and a bandstand at the east end with balustrading to the performance space at the first floor. There was raked seating on the roof, the whole facing north into the yard (the wing was demolished in the 1980s).
At the first floor of the main range was a sound-proof control room, sleeping and rest rooms, canteens and a billiard room for the ranks below Station Officer, with access to the poles straight to the appliance room below through secured wooden double-doors, and visual indicators to direct firemen to the active appliance. On the second and third floors were offices for the headquarters’ general administrative staff and a conference room on the second floor. The upper floors were residential flats, the smallest having two sitting rooms, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and a balcony opening to the rear. The grandstand-like rear elevation, with tiers of balconies, accommodated large crowds of spectators to watch fire-fighting displays in the drill yard and tower to the rear. The principal front is adorned by central bas-relief sculptures in panels by Gilbert Bayes (1872-1953), a prolific public sculptor whose work has contributed to the interest of several listed buildings, stone reliefs of fireman over the entrance doors by Stanley Nicholson Babb (1873-1957) and a sculptural relief of the LCC Coat of Arms on the top storey by FP Morton.
In 1939 the dock was converted into an underground control room, connected to the basement and constructed to withstand a direct hit and a gas attack, with its own reserve electric light installation and forced ventilation, served by an obelisk ventilation shaft against the north wall of the drill yard (which also acted as an escape route). It was from here that the capital's fire-fighting operations were run during the Second World War although the London Regional Headquarters is thought to have been in a bunker adjacent to the Natural History Museum. Women joined the Brigade as part of the Auxiliary Fire Service founded in 1938 (replaced by the National Fire Service in 1941), serving as dispatch riders, drivers, and in the communications networks. Notable women stationed at the LFB Headquarters included Lady Betty Cuthbert, the first Chief Woman Fire Officer of the National Fire Service, Joyce Hicks and Mary Oddy who organised training, fitness regimes and duties for women firefighters.
The ventilation obelisk was designed to be strong enough to withstand a heavy fall of debris, so that should the escape door in the lower part of the structure become buried, steel treads set in the air duct would lead to the louvered openings at the upper level.
With the exception of the demolition of the rear wing, replaced with the 1980s command centre, and loss of some of the grandstand railings, the exterior has a good level of survival, but the upper floors of the interior have been reconfigured with a loss of fixtures and fittings, although some joinery, doors and one fireplace remains. The building ceased to be the LFB headquarters in January 2008 but continues as Lambeth Fire Station. The boundary wall to the rear yard was rebuilt in the late C20.
Details
Fire station (also the former Brigade Headquarters of the London Fire Brigade). Built 1936-1937 by the London County Council at a cost of about £300k to the designs of EP Wheeler FRIBA, Architect to the LCC, assisted by G Weald FRIBA and possibly Frederick Hiorns. Sculpture by Gilbert Bayes, Stanley Nicholson Babb and FP Morton. Steel framework by Dawnays Ltd, foundations by Gee, Walker and Slater, building superstructure by Higgs and Hill, steel-framed windows by Crittall.
MATERIALS: steel frame, probably concrete-encased, clad in light brown-grey bricks laid in English bond; the ground floor, central part of the first floor, cornice to the top floor and top of central tower are faced in Portland stone with granite courses to the base. Reinforced concrete balconies to the rear.
PLAN: long, rectangular nine-storey block, aligned north-south along the river frontage. The building comprises a basement with a heating chamber and store rooms, the ground floor fire station, with staff facilities at the first floor, former offices at the second, former administration facilities at the third, and former living quarters on the fourth to eighth floors. The appliance room is placed centrally on the ground floor, with the main entrance hall and watch room to the south and a smaller entrance hall to the north. Two stairs at the north and south end are found to the rear. Each floor is bisected by a long axial corridor. A single and part-two storey rear wing, originally housing the LFB museum, canteens and a bandstand to the east, was demolished in the 1980s to make way for a large, extant extension housing the former command centre.
To the rear of the main building is the yard, with the drill tower (separately listed) in the north-east corner of the site. The yard is accessed from Lambeth High Street.
EXTERIOR: streamlined Moderne style, expressed through severe geometry, stepped-back upper storeys, a flat roof, cill-courses and with a strong horizontal emphasis to the elevations. The symmetrical principal front (facing Albert Embankment) has nine storeys, with the top two storeys stepped back, apart from the central five bays of the eighth storey which thus form a centrepiece to the façade. There are 25 bays to this principal front, plus set-back blind end bays forming returns to the side elevations. Original 'Crittall' casement windows with horizontal glazing remain with those to each end narrower and those to the central five bays at the first floor and the central bay above being triple casements with margin lights.
The ground floor has seven central appliance bays with deep, stepped-back splayed reveals and an upper transom with horizontal fluting (these details are repeated in the lower pedestrian entrances to either side). Appliance bays have folding wooden doors (some replicated) of coffered panels with decorative metal grilles to the upper parts; transom lights also have decorative metal grilles. To each side of the appliance bays are four small square windows with decorative metal grilles, arranged two to either side of a pedestrian entrance. Entrances have panelled double doors with metal grilles; above each of them is a stone relief of firemen in action by Stanley Nicholson Babb. The Portland stone balcony to the first floor, continuing around the side elevations, bears the name of building 'LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL LONDON FIRE BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS' obscured by scaffolding in 2023. Above the first floor of the central five bays is a stone cornice with horizontal fluting, curved at the ends and in the centre around two elaborate metal lamp standards. From the first to the third floors are central stone reliefs by Gilbert Bayes with gold mosaic backgrounds. Flanking the first floor are two galleys, above the first floor are two mermen with water hoses, above the second floor Phoebus in his chariot with sun's rays behind, and on the third floor a griffin. There is horizontal rustication to the eighth-floor centrepiece, which has an inset panel of wheat ears, and to the ninth floor. The central set-back tower has side pavilions with projecting reinforced concrete cornices above a frieze with square and dot pattern, iron railings and flagstaff above, and a large carved LCC coat of arms crest in stone by FP Morton.
The return elevations of 6 bays have narrower end windows. Here the top three storeys are set back apart from the two end bays to the south-east rear, which form a corner tower.
The rear elevation has corresponding folding appliance doors with decorative grilles at the ground floor, providing access to the drill yard. There are cantilevered balconies on all floors, the three lowest floors are deeper, raked in terrace-like form, with cast iron balustrading, although some inner railings are removed. From the fourth to the eighth floor, the ends project, with two floors of the southern projection glazed-in. A built-in canted control kiosk is at the first floor north end, accessed from the yard by an external stair, with interior control panels remaining. The lower balconies were designed to be used as display platforms for up to 800 people to watch weekly public drill displays. The building diminishes in depth above the third storey level.
The 1980s rear extension (former Command Centre) projects deeply into the southern end of the drill yard, supported on concrete piers. Of two storeys, the first floor oversails, with an additional plant roof extension to the frontage. It has a blocky appearance, clad in brown brick to the ground floors, partly glazed at the north. It appears to be clad with GRP to the first floor with small rectangular windows to the north, east and south. The roof is flat. A brown brick external plant tower is attached to the south.
INTERIOR: the main south entrance hall has marble cladding and a geometrical frieze. The doors have elaborate geometrical patterned grilles. On the right-hand rear (east) side, set in an alcove, is a memorial by Gilbert Bayes presented to the LFB by Lloyds underwriters and dedicated 'to the memory of the officers and men of the London Fire Brigade who throughout the years lay down their lives whilst doing their duty'. The central marble relief depicts a contemporary fire-fighting scene, set within a bronze frame with opening panels to either side bearing the names of 62 men. The top bears the motto "FINIS CORONAT OPUS", surmounted by a statuary group with a steam fire engine drawn by galloping horses. Set in the walls to either side are bronze grilles depicting billhooks and historic fire-fighting equipment, below which are bas-relief panels of modern appliances. In front of the memorial is a circular floor mosaic depicting the Great Fire of London. On the left rear wall is an elaborate tablet commemorating the establishment of the London Fire Brigade in 1865. This has a marble relief by Gilbert Bayes dated 1938 depicting an C18 fire fighting scene, set in a bronze frame with relief figures to either side and the inscription 'OMNIUM RERUM PRINCIPIA PARVA SUNT' at the top. In 1956, a memorial to the men and women of the Fire Services of the London Civil Defence Region was unveiled on the west side of the hall, depicting St Paul's Cathedral set amid smoke and flames, a brass inscription and veneer panels inscribed with 414 names. Beneath is a circular sgraffito floor panel depicting the areas of the London Civil Defence Region Fire Services. A memorial tablet against central pier to LCC staff who died in the two World Wars, has a gilded key pattern. A bronze plaque marks the opening of the building by King George VI.
The hall has been extended into the former watch room, which, in turn, leads to the appliance room where three of the firemens' poles remain and a concrete stair with metal balustrade, located at the rear, leads to the first floor.
The smaller north entrance hall has similar doors and frieze to the main entrance but the marble cladding is 1980s. There are open-well, moderne style stairs with bronze balustrades and terrazzo floor covering to the landings and up to the dado rail, located to the north and south ends at the rear. The first-floor mess room with beamed coffered ceiling and some original timber fittings, and the billiard room has wooden panelling, bench seating and score board. Some original lockers remain in the dormitories. The secured timber doors to the poles remain on the south side of the corridor. The second floor has a rear conference room faced in polished wood veneer with a fluted frieze; the sliding partitions have gone. The upper residential floors have largely been stripped of domestic fittings, and opened out into large rooms, although many original doors, one fire surround, one fireplace, some skirting boards, dado rails, architraves and other joinery survive. Other features include original wood-veneer post boxes. The basement has a generator and other equipment said to date from the Second Wold War when the basement was used as an underground control room.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: the ventilation and escape tower in the form of an obelisk is located at approximately the centre of the north boundary of site, against the south wall of the International Maritime Organisation building. Designed and built in 1939, it was the secondary means of escape from the underground control room in addition to having air intake ducts within for gas-proof ventilation. This tapering, square-section structure is constructed of reinforced concrete and is about 11.5m high, with louvered openings at 10m height and a door at the ground floor on its east elevation.
