Water Tower To Former Lambeth Workhouse

This is a water tower built in 1877 to the designs of Fowler and Hill, originally serving the Lambeth Workhouse and Infirmary, later known as Lambeth Hospital. The tower is constructed of yellow stock brick with red brick dressings and banding, Portland stone dressings, and a clay tile roof.

The tower is a monumental structure in a striking Venetian Gothic style, rectangular in plan, and comprises four stages of equal height. The uppermost stage has a corbelled cornice and a plain top. Diagonal buttresses feature pointed stone heads. The lower four stages have narrow rectangular openings with stone lintels and cills, framed by giant arcades (triple on the north and south sides, double on the east and west) with moulded stone imposts that continue around the buttress heads. These arcades have pointed gauged-brick heads, oculi, and brick drip-moulds. Similar openings are present on the otherwise plain top storey. A hipped tiled roof with a gablet covers the large iron water tank.

The provision of separate workhouse infirmaries was mandated by the Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867, leading to the rebuilding of several London workhouses and new infirmaries. Lambeth Workhouse was rebuilt between 1871 and 1873 to the designs of R Parris and TW Aldwinckle, accommodating 820 inmates. The pavilion-plan infirmary was completed in 1877, with casual wards added to the south and the water tower to the north-east of the former workhouse administration block. The tower served both the workhouse and infirmary; most of the other infirmary buildings and workhouse blocks have since been demolished.

While metropolitan workhouse infirmaries of this period were often plain, this water tower is imposing, likely a deliberate response to the ornate Venetian Gothic style of the former workhouse administrative block. It is designated for its special architectural interest as an imposing and distinctive water tower in the Venetian Gothic style, its historic association with Lambeth Workhouse and Infirmary, and its group value with the former workhouse administrative block, a nearby former courthouse, and a former fire station, creating a notable ensemble of Victorian public buildings.