DEPTFORD FIRE STATION

DEPTFORD FIRE STATION, 186, EVELYN STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Fire station, 1903, by London County Council's Fire Stations Division, with minor later alterations. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393505
Date first listed:: 29-Oct-2009
List Entry Name:: DEPTFORD FIRE STATION
Statutory Address:: DEPTFORD FIRE STATION, 186, EVELYN STREET

User submitted image — Uploaded by Charles Watson This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

Not all listed places are appearing on this map. We are investigating this issue and will have a fix in place as soon as we can. Updated: 6 February 2025.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393505
Date first listed:: 29-Oct-2009
List Entry Name:: DEPTFORD FIRE STATION
Statutory Address 1:: DEPTFORD FIRE STATION, 186, EVELYN STREET

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: DEPTFORD FIRE STATION, 186, EVELYN STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: Lewisham (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ 36606 78033

Reasons for Designation

Deptford Fire Station has been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * special architectural interest as a characterful and distinctive station from a significant period in the development fire station architecture * the principal façade is carefully composed in a Queen Anne style, the quality of the brickwork is also good, and the station has a municipal presence through the appliance bays and the inscription. * the station has added special interest in that the strong historic associations with John Evelyn have been referenced in the use of a late C17 domestic style, illustrating sensitivity to local context typical of the LCC architects in the early C20.

Details

779/0/10148 EVELYN STREET 29-OCT-09 Deptford 186 Deptford Fire Station

II Fire station, 1903, by London County Council's Fire Stations Division, with minor later alterations.

Red brick with stone ground floor and slate Mansard roof. Timber sash windows, some replaced.

EXTERIOR: Queen Anne style, having a seven-bay brick façade with giant order pilasters, advancing central bay with a broken scroll pediment, Mansard roof with dormer windows and exaggeratedly-tall chimneys. The ground floor is functionally-determined by the necessity of at least two appliance bays and an entrance bay, but is enlivened by ornamentation including a keystone over the entrance bay, stone sills to the windows and the elegant lettering above the appliance bays which reads 'LCC Fire Brigade Station Deptford 1903'. The appliance bay doors and ground and first floor windows are modern replacements and the boundary wall and railings shown in historic photographs of the station has been removed. The rear is largely unaltered and the arrangement of accommodation remains legible, with railed, external walkways leading from a central staircase tower to flats.

INTERIOR: The interior is altered in part, with the removal of fireplaces and other features. The plan remains largely unchanged, however, and of the standard design used in many stations of the period. There is a single fireplace surviving in the flats, as well as the main stair with its metal balustrade and handrail.

HISTORY: A building boom of the 1890s-1900s transformed fire station architecture and give the Brigade its most characterful buildings. By 1889 the Fire Brigade was part of London County Council and from 1896 new stations were designed by the a group of architects lead by Owen Fleming and Charles Canning Winmill, both formerly of the LCC Housing Department. They 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 World War I, although there was some standardisation of design in the period. Deptford Station, built in 1903, is a station from this period as reflected in its considerable architectural quality.

The architecture is inspired by domestic buildings of the late C17, no doubt selected in recognition of Deptford's history: the site of Sayes Court, the home of the late C17 diarist John Evelyn, is just east of the fire station. The Fire Brigade Division used the design of Deptford Station again in 1904, at Millwall (Grade II) just across the river. REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Deptford Fire Station is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * special architectural interest as a characterful and distinctive station from a significant period in the development fire station architecture * the principal façade is carefully composed in a Queen Anne style, the quality of the brickwork is also good, and the station has a municipal presence through the appliance bays and the inscription. * the station has added special interest in that the strong historic associations with John Evelyn have been referenced in the use of a late C17 domestic style, illustrating sensitivity to local context typical of the LCC architects in the early C20.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 504242
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.