The Engine House

The Engine House is a 19th-century building located at Blakes Lock Sewage Pumping Station, constructed around 1870. It features red brick walls with a grey brick pattern, stone and grey brick dressings, and cast iron small-pane windows, topped with a red tile roof. The building has a T-plan layout, with the west block originally housing the boilers and the east block containing the steam engines. There is a later 19th-century addition in the northeast corner, and a 20th-century chimney that has since been demolished.

Designed in a free Gothic style, the main elevation faces the River Kennet and includes a gable on the left with an arcade of three bays supported by plain brick piers and segmental arches. The center bay has double-leaf doors, while the outer bays, which were originally single doors, now feature timber casements set between brick panels, all beneath full-width cast iron overlights. A large sexfoil window is located in the gable.

To the right, there are three pairs of pilaster buttresses with lancet windows between them, above a tall plinth that has been pierced by two 20th-century windows. The intervening bays include a large Gothic doorway with a solid, shouldered head that bears the arms of the Borough of Reading, fitted with a pair of three-quarter glazed doors, all set within a gabled brick panel. The center bay features a cinquefoil window, while the right bay contains a round-headed doorway that is now blocked. The eaves and verges are adorned with a detailed corbel-table in brick, and Gothic iron ventilators are present along the ridge.