December 2022
Eltham Palace
Eltham Palace consists of the medieval great hall of a former royal residence, to which an Art Deco extension was added in the 1930s, described as a “masterpiece of modern design”.
The original palace was given to Edward II in 1305 by the Bishop of Durham. It is said that is was the favorite palace of Henry IV. Henry VIII passed much of his boyhood at Eltham, and was the last monarch to spend substantial amounts of money or time there.
The hammerbeam roof of the great hall is the third-largest of its type in England
The North Stone Bridge
The North Stone Bridge crossing the moat was rebuilt by Edward IV in the 1470s and is said to be the oldest working bridge in London. It had a drawbridge at one end which was discovered during repairs in 1912.
In 1933, Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia acquired a 99-year lease on the palace site and commissioned Seely & Paget to restore the hall and create a modern home attached to it.
Virginia’s bedroom with its marquetry and curved walls
Battersea
Designed by Sir Giles Scott, known for his architectural work on Waterloo Bridge, Liverpool Cathedral, and the red telephone box Battersea Power Station was the first of its kind, producing 400,000 kilowatts of electricity. The Power Station was completed by the British Electric Authority in 1948 and began operating in 1953. It became known as the ‘temple of power’ and was the largest power station in the UK.
The power station was closed down in 1983 and remained largely unused. John Broome, an entrepreneur and tourism adviser to Margaret Thatcher, was the visionary behind the rehabilitation of Battersea. He got no further than removing the roof of the place to take the machinery out before rising costs killed the project. It took decades, and many owners before plans for the deteriorating ruin came to fruition. In 2012 Malaysian investors SP Setia and Sime Darby stepped in with designs by Rafael Viñoly, and that is what you see today.
The Power Station was renowned for its unique, lavish Art Deco interior, and a little of that can still be spotted here and there.
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Some of the interesting equipment was left in at the ceiling level.
Control Room B sits behind plexiglass in a restaurant and bar. Difficult to photograph and access, at least it remains for posterity and awe.
Interior of Battersea
The buildings around Battersea Power Station that make up the redevelopment are interesting, and yet they are skyscrapers that are crowded together and thus, despite their unique architecture, are difficult to see and enjoy and even harder to photograph.
Gehry Partners-designed apartment and townhouse complex known as Prospect Place
All you can see of the new American Embassy building, designed by Philadelphia-based architecture firm KieranTimberlake from Battersea Power Station