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This charming collection of dials and measuring mechanisms once controlled the most powerful places in London. Their lighting that is. An Art Deco masterpiece, London’s Battersea Power Station helped keep the lights on in government offices in nearby Chelsea, and even was the site of a runaway inflated animal.
Constructed between 1929 and 1930 the Battersea station and its iconic smokestacks powered Parliment and even Buckingham Palace. Control Room A served as an integral part of the building’s service, allowing workers to monitor the movement of electrical power heading to these government structures. Some switchboard names in the room contain mysterious nicknames, possibly shielding these famous London institutions with secret codenames as a matter of security. While it may have a nostalgic look to it today, this room at the time was the height of design technology, including double glazing on its windows in order to decrease noise pollution from every day activity at the station.
📸: Chris Holmes
📸: Chris Holmes
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The massive power station quickly became obsolete with ever-growing energy demands in the city and operational costs, and was decommissioned between 1975 and 1983. As city officials sat with what to do for the structure, the landmark found itself tied to rock and roll royalty, pictured on the 1977 record Animals by Pink Floyd. Wanting to strike big for the album, the band decided to use a 30 foot inflatable pig to rest in between Battersea’s smokestacks for record’s main image. Weather was terrible the day of the shoot, and seemingly on accident the inflated hog escaped from its mooring and took a little trip down the Thames River. The event caused quite the ruckus in the city as onlookers tried to parse out how a massive pig was roaming through their skyline. The balloon eventually ended up finally landing on a farm in Kent. While the owner of the farm was not happy (claiming his cows were scared off by the pig), one figures the substantial swine was just trying to return home!
📸: Pink Floyd
After sitting vacant for decades, the Battersea Power Station opened its doors the the public in 2022. Control Room A was restored to its former glory, allowing for patrons to experience the thrill of multiple dials to watch and buttons to push, all while walking on a refinished parquet floor. Unfortunately, there are no hogs to be found in the renovated control room, but if one is feeling as peckish as a pig, there’s a bar in Control Room B on the other side of the station.
