Pair Of Beam Engine Houses With Linking Boiler House At Deptford Sewage Pumping Station

A pair of beam engine houses with a connecting boiler house, constructed in 1865 and designed by Sir J W Bazalgette, with a later extension in 1905. The buildings are constructed of grey English bond brick with limestone dressings, featuring shallow-pitched hipped Welsh slate roofs. They are designed in an Italianate style. Each two-storey beam engine house consists of 3 bays by 5 bays and is articulated by a giant order of Tuscan pilasters that rise to a parapet with a moulded stone cornice. The main elevations have steps with cast-iron railings leading to panelled double doors set within a classical architrave, with a cornice above the overlight. The ground floor windows are square-headed with stone cornices, while the upper floor windows are semi-circular arched, featuring small panes in cast-iron casements. Louvred lantern finials adorn the roofs. The beam engine house was extended to the south in 1905, matching the original style. The single-storey boiler house has similar casements set in semi-circular arched window architraves on the front, and an eight-bay arcade of semi-circular arches on moulded imposts to the rear, which provided access for coal via the coal sheds. A continuous strip clerestory light runs along the roof. Internally, the slate roofs, supported by wooden plank construction, are held by wrought-iron trusses. These buildings are part of Sir J W Bazalgette's drainage scheme for London, pumping sewage from the three main south London sewers to the level of the southern outfall sewer.