Lee Green Fire Station

Lee Green Fire Station

This fire station was built in 1906 by the Fire Brigade Branch of the London County Council Architects Department. A small extension was added in the immediate post-war period, with other minor later alterations. The building is constructed of red brick with lower courses of russet glazed brick, a steeply pitched slate roof and tall brick chimneys. The twin gables and ground floor glazed brick on the side elevation are rendered, while the front features a stone canted bay.

The building has three storeys, an attic and a basement. At ground floor level the plan is roughly square, while at first floor level and above it becomes L-shaped to the south and east sides.

The exterior is notable for two elevations of architectural quality executed in the Arts and Crafts style. The southern elevation features two bays set beneath a steep slate roof with eaves soffit punctured by a long horizontal dormer, beneath which are tall windows in segmental-headed recesses, each containing three sashes. Between the recesses at second floor level are attached gilt letters reading "LCC / LEE GREEN / FIRE / BRIGADE / STATION / AD 1906" with a coat of arms below. At ground floor level are two appliance bays under a pent roof with modern doors. To the right is a slightly splayed cross-gable with painted white kneelers, a stone-faced canted bay to ground and first floor, two windows in the attic and three at second floor, with one window to each floor alongside the bay. These latter windows are divided by a drip mould which continues to the side elevation and the rear.

The return elevation to the east has four equal bays with prominent twin gables to the centre featuring rendered corbelled peaks and attic windows. The windows are a mixture of single sashes and groups of three or five, with a round arched entrance in glazed brick. The gable elevation to the rear has pairs of sashes under segmental relieving arches to each floor above the drip mould. Adjacent to this is access to the appliance bay via a post-war extension, which infills a recessed section of the original plan. The upper storeys form an L-plan containing three firemen's flats to each floor including the attic, with concrete and iron balconies to the upper two floors. All entrances to apartments have red panelled doors with varying glazing to the top section; those to the centre are in segmental arches providing access to the central staircase. The sliding pole is accessed from the roof garden at first floor level.

Three firemen's cottages stand to the north of the station, but these are detached, in separate ownership and are not of special interest.

Interior

The plan form survives with self-contained flats containing living areas, bedrooms and washrooms accessed from the staircase in the centre of the L-plan. The ground floor contains the appliance room, a watch-room with an internal segmental arched window overlooking the appliance bay and a large segmental arch to the bay window, a mess room featuring arched alcoves and a simple fireplace, and an equipment room in the modern extension. Good survival of original joinery is evident throughout, including moulded arched door-cases, doors, and a number of fireplaces with surrounds in glazed or bare brick and timber. The central staircase with metal balustrade survives, although the handrail and treads have modern plastic coverings. The basement contains storage cupboards and a fire escape with a short metal ladder that exits into the equipment room.

History

Lee Green Station was opened on 13 December 1906 by Lewen Sharp of the Fire Brigade Committee of the London County Council. It represents the product of the most fruitful period of fire station design in London, when the Fire Brigade was part of the London County Council and stations were designed by a group of architects led by Owen Fleming and Charles Canning Winmill, both formerly of the LCC Housing Department. They brought highly experimental methods evolved for designing new social housing to the Fire Brigade Division, as the department was called from 1899, drawing on a huge variety of influences to create unique and commanding stations, often built to a bespoke design and plan. Some stations built in this period retained the arrangement of earlier stations whereby accommodation for firemen was in flats above the appliance bays, accessed via external balconies. While derivative in plan, the treatment of the façades of these stations was always carefully considered. Lee Green is a good example of this period of fire station design, where the Arts and Crafts style was selected for its appropriateness to the suburban landscape of south-east London and deployed on two elevations of considerable charm and character. Extra accommodation was provided in two houses to the north of the station.