Dimco Machine Tools

Dimco Machine Tools is a former electricity generating station built between 1898 and 1899 for the Central London Railway. The architect was Harry Bell Measures, and the engineer was Horace Field Parshall. The building features red and pink brick with iron roofs and stone coping along the parapet. It consists of two adjoining single-height gable-ended sheds: the former boiler house on the west and the former power generating house on the east.

The west shed is five bays long, divided by piers, and has arched cast-iron windows, some of which are blocked, beneath a dentilled brick cornice. The north and south elevations each have five bays with two lunette windows at a lower level and three arch-headed openings within the gable. Behind this shed, connected by a single-storey building, are two chimney bases made of blue and red brick with stone dressings, located to the north of the westernmost shed; the chimney shafts were removed around 1928.

The east shed is eleven bays long, with five bay elevations on both the north and south sides. The south elevation features a pair of arched windows at ground floor level below three arch-headed openings within the gable, while the north elevation has two orders of arch-headed windows at ground floor level and three arch-headed openings within the gable.

Inside, the west shed, which was the former boiler house, has a plain interior with double rows of supports for the iron roof trusses. The east shed, which served as the generating house, includes iron roof trusses and walls faced in glazed green, brown, and yellow brick. It also contains a mobile gantry crane, a switch gallery with double stairs, a balustrade, iron columns, and offices at the rear.

Historically, these buildings were the engine house and boiler house of the Wood Lane generating station, which provided energy for the Central Line. They are the earliest surviving example of an electricity generating station built for the London Underground Railway system. The generating station closed in 1928, and the building was later occupied by the Dimco power tool company.