Reasons for Designation
Plumstead Fire Station is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* dating from the heyday of the LCC Fire Brigade Division architects, it has special architectural interest for its two street-facing elevations which make the most of the prominent location;
* the elevation to Plumstead High Street, with its Baroque giant order pilasters, has grandeur most unusual for a suburban building and that to Lakedale Road is distinguished by its careful detailing, tiles with period lettering, and attractive Queen-Anne domestic style;
* the rear of the building and the interior are more functional, but are nonetheless of special interest in that they are largely unaltered and contain some attractive original features.
Details
786/0/10190 LAKEDALE ROAD
29-OCT-09 PLUMSTEAD
1
Plumstead Fire Station
II
Fire station, 1907, by Fire Stations Division of London County Council, with minor later alterations.
MATERIALS: Red brick building with stone dressings, stone corner and stone return, and slate roof.
EXTERIOR: The exterior is notable in having two principal elevations which take advantage of the prominent corner location. To Plumstead High Street is a grand palazzo-style elevation with a giant order of paired Ionic pilasters on the upper storeys, dividing the alternating round-arched and flat-arched windows which all have moulded stone surrounds. The ground floor also has handsome windows and doors, both simple flat brick arches with stone keystones and stone lugged surrounds with segmental tops. The giant order is terminated at each corner by a single Ionic pilaster and a large stone-clad void which continues on both returns. The return to Lakedale Road, which shares a prominent dentil cornice and moulded entablature with the Plumstead High Street façade, is in a Queen Anne domestic style. It has a central doorway, recessed in a segmental-headed stone surround with lugs, and three sash windows on each of the upper two storeys, these with flat-gauged brick arches; the first floor windows are replacement sashes. Further along this elevation are the two appliance bays, both with replaced doors, this section stepping down to two storeys and entirely faced in stone. The two bays are set in an attractive lugged opening with a tiled fascia which reads 'L.C.C. FIRE BRIGADE STATION PLUMSTEAD' and the first floor has a number of replaced sash windows and an oculus. The hipped slate roof is concealed by the parapet but the many tall brick chimneys with projecting upper courses are attractive and visible features. A handsome lamp, with the word 'FIRE' painted on the glass, and its bracket has been removed from the corner of the building leaving scars in the stonework.
The design of the rear of the building has been determined mainly be function although the tall chimneys, a semi-circular window in the ground floor and a curved gable are lively features and it is of note for being largely unaltered. There are two large appliance bay entrances which recall the former use of horse-drawn fire vehicles which could not be reversed into the front bays and so were driven into the bays via the rear yard. There is evidence - in the darker brick and blocked in openings under segmental arches on the eastern section of the rear - that the external railed walkways, which provided access to the fireman's accommodation on the upper storeys, were once extended across the elevation. Several of the windows and doors have been replaced.
INTERIOR: The interior retains its plan form and the open space of the appliance bays, the office-like environment of the watch room and ground floor spaces, and the domestic-style accommodation upstairs, the later containing an Edwardian fireplace, survives. There are several other features of interest inside: the wood casing and doors to the sliding pole, the staircase with its metal balusters and handrail, and a number of original doors.
HISTORY: Plumstead Fire Station was opened in June 1907 by the Chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee of the London County Council, Rupert Guinness. The building replaced a number of small houses, one of which had served as a post office from at least the 1860s. At about the same time, a Methodist Chapel on the opposite corner of the junction was demolished to make way for the bank building which stands there today. The building has been little altered since 1907, despite the transition from horse-drawn fire vehicles to motorised fire engines.
SOURCES: Andrew Saint, 'London's Architecture and the London Fire Brigade, 1866-1938' (Heinz Gallery RIBA, Exhibition Catalogue, 1981).
Will Reading, 'L.C.C. Fire Stations, 1896-1916, their History, Condition and Future Use' (Architectural Association Graduate School, 2007).
John B. Nadal, London's Fire Stations (Huddersfield, 2006).
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Plumstead Fire Station is listed for the following principal reasons:
* dating from the heyday of the LCC Fire Brigade Division architects, it has special architectural interest primarily in its two street-facing elevations which make the most of the prominent location;
* the elevation to Plumstead High Street, with its Baroque giant order pilasters, has grandeur most unusual for a suburban building and that to Lakedale Road is distinguished by its careful detailing, tiles with period lettering, and attractive Queen-Anne domestic style;
* the rear of the building and the interior are more functional, but are nonetheless of special interest in that they are largely unaltered and contain some attractive original features.
