Former Peckham Fire Station

Former Camberwell Fire Station, Peckham Road

Built in 1867 by Edward Cresy Junior, this is the earliest surviving purpose-built fire station in London and possibly the earliest in the country. It was constructed during the Metropolitan Fire Brigade's ambitious expansion programme under its first Captain, Eyre Massey Shaw, following the foundation of the publicly-funded service in 1866.

The building is a stock brick structure in the Gothic style, three storeys tall with an attic, pitched tiled roof, and gabled cross-wing. The Peckham Road elevation displays three bays. The ground floor contains a vehicular bay on the right and two segmental-arched former appliance bays on the left, now partly bricked in but still identifiable by their gauged brick arches and keystones decorated with fleur-de-lis. The elevation is enriched with bands of red and yellow brick and patterned terracotta. Pairs of timber sash windows on the upper storeys have gauged flat arches in red brick. The gable apex, which formerly carried a finial, has been removed. A decorative wrought-iron bracket is positioned at the centre of the elevation, possibly originally intended to hold a fire lamp.

The rear elevation has fewer coloured brick bands. Red rubbed brick segmental arches frame the windows here, though most original timber sashes have been replaced with metal casement windows, probably in the first half of the twentieth century. A first-floor loading bay with hoist survives and may relate to the building's later use as a warehouse after ceasing fire station operations. Outbuildings and stables once shown in the rear yard no longer exist.

The interior retains the original arrangement of rooms on the upper floors, including an iron ladder to the loft. The appliance bay and vehicular entrance remain undivided. Most doors and the staircase are of age, though their originality is uncertain. As typical of historic fire stations, there are no original fireplaces or fire brigade equipment.

The station served the London Fire Brigade until the 1920s when a new building was constructed nearby. The building later underwent alterations to its fabric.