The Pump House

The Pump House is a sewage pumping station that has been converted into a steam engine museum. It was built in 1877 for the Walthamstow Urban District Council and was extended to the west in 1896, with the current steam engines installed in 1897. The building is constructed from London stock yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, with engineering brick dressings, and features slate and corrugated asbestos roofs.

The exterior is a single storey with a south front that has three gabled sections. The two eastern gables, dating from 1877, originally housed the Tangey engine and pumps. Each of these gables has two round-arched cast-iron windows, single cast-iron roundels at the apex, clasping end pilasters, and a pair of central pilasters beneath a rectangular chimney flue. The west gabled section includes two taller segmental-headed cast-iron windows and a blind tympanum above, along with a pedestrian doorway. The roofs have glazed panels, and the central roof features a raised and glazed continuous vent with a pedimented end gablet. A late 20th-century toilet block is present but is not of special interest. The north side has two similar windows to the east section and one segmental cast-iron window in the west section, next to a timber loading door.

Inside, a solid wall separates the west area, which contains the boiler room, from the rest of the building. The roof of the west area has five tensioned steel trusses, and 35-inch rolled steel joists were added in the 20th century for lifting gear. The roof of the east area features a central valley supported by a 15-inch rolled steel joist resting on brick pilasters. Four secondary 8-inch rolled steel joists are bolted to the main beam, running north and south to rest on brick pilasters in the east and west walls. There are no visible maker's marks. Above the rolled steel joists are tensioned steel trusses. The original pipework for steam from the boiler room remains, serving a balanced pair of Marshall C-type horizontal stationary steam engines that drive a central flywheel, with engine numbers 27384 and 27385. The condensers are located below the floor.

The Pump House is notable for its early use of structural steel and the pair of steam engines from 1897.