Silo D

Silo D is a grain silo built in 1920 and restored in 1995. It is constructed of reinforced concrete and features a simple plan with a central head house and square compartments housing silos on either side and at the rear, which are linked at a high level. The silo has a horizontal Chase-style elevator on top and a leg to one side. The windows overlooking the finger dock are now blocked, and there are roundels on the high-level link. The interior was not inspected. The silo was used to lift bulk grain from ships and barges into the central cube of silos and the two side towers, utilizing both a traditional bucket conveyor and a suction elevator, before loading it onto other barges. This structure was the center of grain importation into London and replaced iron silos from 1898 that were damaged in the Silvertown munitions explosion of 1917. Silo D is noted for its dramatic architectural style and is an early surviving example of a reinforced concrete grain silo. Silos like this have become celebrated as representations of modernism achieved through industrial functionalism, and this is considered a particularly good example.