Gates, Gate-piers, Curved Wall Section and Railings Associated With Pumping Station

Reasons for Designation

The gates, gate piers, curved wall section and railings at Streatham Pumping Station is designated Grade II for the following principal reasons: * the quadrant walls and piers are in the same style and materials as the Grade II-listed pumping house and there are also attractive original cast-iron gates and railings; * the group value is strong and all of these features have clear special interest for this connection.

Details

963/0/10181 CONYERS ROAD 29-SEP-08 Gates, gate-piers, curved wall section and railings associated with pumping station

GV II Gates, gate piers, quadrant walls and railings bounding the pumping station, c1888, for the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company.

The structures run south-north along the former eastern boundary of the pumping station site. Starting at the southernmost point is a brick pier then a long run of cast iron railings with decorative finials on a stock and moulded brick dwarf wall with cast-iron capping, which steps up as the ground level ascends. Outside the former engineer's house is a wide vehicle entrance and pedestrian opening with cast-iron gates flanked by quadrant walls and gate piers. These are in grey, yellow and red stock brick with concrete caps. The cast-iron spear-head railings then continue north, on what may be rebuilt brick dwarf walls, to a second larger vehicle entrance with the same design of gates, quadrant walls and piers. A short run of railings to the north of this has been truncated, probably in the inter-war period when the eight houses here were built. The gates have openwork-pattern bottom rails, complementing the Moorish style of the pumping station

The east-west walls marking the former northern and southern boundaries of the pumping station site survive, but the northern section is detached from the rest of the railings and the southern section has been altered at its western end; they are not therefore included in the listing.

HISTORY: The pumping station on Conyers Road was built by the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company in 1888 and pumped water from a well to serve the rapidly-expanding suburb of Streatham. The station was taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904. The walls and railings which bound the site and the southernmost of the two gates are contemporary with the pumping station and in a similar style, using the same materials, to the main building. The northernmost gate is probably later in date - it does not appear on early maps - but is in the same style and an integral part of the structure. The railings originally stretched much further north, to the boundary with 52 Conyers Road, but this section was probably demolished in the inter-war period when eight houses were built.

The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company was incorporated in 1845, formed by an amalgamation of two earlier undertakings. Originally the company took their water supply from the Thames at Battersea, until the Metropolitan Water Act of 1852 forced them to move upstream to Hampton in 1855. At their Battersea location, the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company were used by John Snow as a comparator with the Lambeth Waterworks Company, who had moved their source to upstream, cleaner Thames Ditton in 1852. In what became known as 'the grand experiment', Snow studied cholera deaths in the epidemic of 1853-4 when some neighbours were unknowingly receiving cleaner water from the Lambeth company while others consumed more polluted water from the Southwark and Vauxhall company.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The gates, gate piers, curved wall section and railings at Streatham Pumping Station are designated Grade II for the following principal reasons: * the quadrant walls and piers complement the style and materials as the Grade II-listed pumping house; there are also attractive original cast-iron gates and railings; * the group value is strong and the gates, gate piers, curved wall section and railings have clear special interest for this connection.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

505831

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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