Honor Oak Pumping Station

This is a deep well pumping station built between 1902 and 1905 by JW Restler, originally for the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, later taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board who completed the project. Holloway Bros of Lambeth were the builders. It is constructed in an Italianate style, using red brick with yellow facing bricks and York stone dressings. The arches are formed in gauged Burnham bricks. The roof is slate, supported by steel trusses and framing, with a 4-span arrangement over the boiler house and a single span over the engine house, which projects beyond the boiler house. The plan incorporates a square engine tower to the southwest of the engine house.

The building is one or two storeys high, with an 8-bay main elevation. A central two-storey feature has two round-headed windows with keystones and impost blocks, flanked by pilasters and with stone balustrading above. The mansard roof has cast iron cresting. A projecting porch features a round-headed doorcase with keystones and impost blocks, flanked by one-storey wings with three round-headed windows under stone balustrading, each with a hipped roof and cast iron cresting. A further two-storey wing is set back behind, featuring similar windows. To the north is a single-storey, two-span utility extension. The interior has not been inspected.

The pumping station was constructed to exploit a groundwater source discovered in the late 19th century. The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, formed in 1845, had previously relied on collection pools and rivers, and later a reservoir at Hampton. The company also operated a brick kiln on the site between 1898 and 1900, producing over 19,000,000 bricks for their projects. The original well was approximately 4 metres (11 feet) in diameter and 91 metres (300 feet) deep. The massive covered reservoir associated with the pumping station, but not included in this listing, was completed in 1909.