Drill Tower north-east of Lambeth Fire Station

Drill tower. 1937 designed by LCC's architect E P Wheeler FRIBA, assisted by G Weald FRIBA as part of the London Fire Brigade Headquarters scheme.

Exterior: the drill tower is set diagonally to the main building in the north-east corner of the drill yard. It has a steel-framed structure, clad in light grey-brown brick laid in English bond, over 30m (100 feet) high. The tower has nine storeys, in addition to a basement and sub-basement, the principal front faces south-west into the yard, its main entrance is at the centre of the ground floor, and has a timber door with a stone surround flanked by Crittall casement windows with margin lights, concrete cills and lintels. There are stepped-back side walls with secondary entrances into an irregular covered area at the ground floor and a two storey rear outshut with pent roof at the rear. The ground and first floors have a rusticated-like treatment beneath a stone band. There are two window openings with metal grilles to each floor of the principal front, the returns are blind and the rear elevation has smaller openings to the lower five floors. The top two floors of the front elevation are recessed with stone cornices.

Interior: the tower is thought to have a smoke chamber at the ground floor and drill facilities on the upper floors served by a staircase, and a wet hose hoist at the rear.