Built between 1902 and 1905, on what was originally waste ground known as 'the Lots'. Its primary purpose was to provide power to the District Line and three other underground lines run by the Underground Electric Railway company. It was built to run on coal, conveniently shipped in via the river (Chelsea Harbour is built on the site of the old wharves). In 1915, with the closure of the Stockwell power station, Lots Rd also began supplying power to the City and South London Railway systems. Between 1920 and 1925, the capacity of the station was increased from 63 to 92 megawatts and in 1928, the Central Line also obtained its power from Lots Rd. Major modernisation took place in 1963 when the number of chimneys were reduced from four to two and the power station was converted to run on oil. An adjacent building, on the corner of Lots Road was built to cope with the additional requirements for more power.In 2000, with power due to be obtained from the National Grid supply, London Underground decided to sell the power station to developers Circadian.

Part of the building was demolished in the 1980s to make room for the Chelsea Harbour Club; part was kept as an energy substation. It has lain abandoned for several years, but is now being converted into a ‘flagship’ self-storage facility owned by the Big Yellow Self-Storage Company.

Battersea Power Station is without doubt the most famous derelict building in London. Opened in 1937 it was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect also responsible for Bankside Power Station and Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and it originally had a chimney at either end. After the Second World War another, externally identical station was built alongside, giving the building its now familiar four chimneys. When the additional work was completed in 1955, Battersea Power Station became the largest brick building in Europe.

The building is an unmissable landmark for the many people who commute from suburbia to Waterloo, and it has made numerous film and television appearances. It was, for instance, a setting in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1936 film Sabotage, and it later appeared in the Beatles film Help!, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and the 1995 film of Shakespeare’s Richard III. In 1964 the power station was featured in an episode of Doctor Who entitled ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’: set in the twenty-second century, it depicted the station converted to nuclear power. The building’s iconic status was emphasized once more in 1977 when it appeared on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals.

The power station closed in 1983 and plans were made to convert it into a Disney-style theme park, but costs escalated and work stopped in 1989, leaving the building in its present semi-derelict state. Since then, the power station has languished without a roof, its steelwork exposed to the elements and its foundations prone to flooding. Currently there are proposals to have the new Energy Technologies Institute (researching into new technologies to combat climate change) located here.

They promised to transform the roofless edifice into an entertainment complex, with proposals including a “turbine garden” to rival the Eden Project in Cornwall, a 35- screen cinema, nightclubs and boutiques. But little has been done at the Art Deco building designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the man who designed the red telephone booth. Its four chimneys are crumbling and visitors complain of leaks from rainwater.

The Battersea Power Station Community Group, said: “How sickening to be proven right about the intention of Victor Hwang. Walking away with £200 million clear profit leaving no jobs, no regeneration, a derelict power station and 13 years of pretence about wanting to save the landmark and bring prosperity to east Battersea.”

Over the past 150 years this wharf by the River Thames has dealt with coal, lime, metal and gravel, and was used until the 1980s by Shaw Lovell as part of their metal transhipment operation. There is also believed to be an ice house on the site, built for a commercial ice company at the turn of the last century. On the side of the main wharf building there is a hole in the wall mysteriously marked ‘HM Customs’, with a bell still attached.

The site is now completely derelict. Two large cranes, known as ‘Scotch derricks’ and thought to be the last of their kind on the river, were removed in 2001, much to local dismay. The rest of the wharf is under threat of demolition to make way for new housing, which may include some tall tower blocks.

London’s river trade declined rapidly after the Second World War, and after standing derelict for some years, many wharves were redeveloped during the 1980s: they were converted into a mixture of residential and commercial real estate and became in the process some of the most upmarket and expensive properties in London. Chambers Wharf, though, is an exception.

Despite its decaying appearance, part of the building is still used as a storage facility – to house gold bullion, locals have told me. Also lurking in the depths is a large Second World War air raid shelter which projects out from beneath Chambers Wharf and under the River Thames. Some episodes of the 1970s television drama The Professionals were filmed here, and Bodie and Doyle are to be seen running across the roof in one episode.

The discovery of a partially articulated skeleton on the Thames foreshore by Chambers Wharf in February 2002,seemed to suggest that a Neolithic burial had been uncovered by erosion.This could have been the first burial of a Londoner known.

The Keiller & Sons jam factory occupied Tay Wharf from 1880 until 1997. Fruit arrived at the factory by ship, while sugar was supplied by the Tate & Lyle refinery almost next door. The firm was taken over in 1920 by Crosse and Blackwell and is now a subsidiary of Nestlé.

The entrance, which dates from 1900, is a rather strange, tunnel-like affair. It may be that it was designed in this way so that dockers could be inspected as they left – just in case they were carrying something that did not belong to them. The adjacent wall still shows hand painted wording indicating "Picket Line probably left over from the 1970's strikes.

These steps originally gave access to the row boats and ferry man that ferried crew members between the shore and cable ships anchored off-shore in the deeper central channel of the river. They also pass alongside the Bendish Sluice one of four sluices established in the 17th century to draw off water from the natural marshlands that constitute Greenwich Peninsula.

From the mid 1800’s until 1975 telegraph and latterly cable telephone cables have been manufactured at Enderby Warf and were stored in vast tanks at the works which Alcatel now operate. These cables were loaded onto the holds of ships while they lay anchored in the river. Cables produced at this site were used to establish the first links between England and France; the last cable made on the Greenwich site linked Venezuela and Spain.

Delta Wharf produced metal products, mainly bronze, on this site from 1905 until around the early 80's. It was later used for aggregates until its fairly recent closure. This photograph was taken just before demolition which took place early in 2010.

	www.derelictlondon.com
	Want present day pics of your old haunts? Researching your family tree and need location pics? Pictures taken to order - low cost - any job considered (not just derelicts!). Much cheaper than professional photographers Contact: Paul at derelictlondon.com