Battersea Power Station, decommissioned power station in Nine Elms, London, United Kingdom
Battersea Power Station is a former coal-fired station in Nine Elms, built in two stages as Battersea A and B. Its steel frame is clad in brick, with four light-coloured smokestacks rising from fluted towers and a lower scaffolded section. Rows of small rectangular windows line the brick base.
Architect Giles Gilbert Scott designed the building in the 1930s, and it supplied London with coal-generated electricity until 1983. After decades of vacancy, the site was redeveloped into a residential and retail complex starting in the 2010s.
The building appears on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, with an inflatable pig floating between two chimneys. It also features in Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 film Sabotage, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), and the 2012 Sherlock episode A Scandal in Belgravia.
The site includes shops, restaurants, and residential areas that are accessible most days of the week. A visit combines well with a walk along the riverfront, as the riverside path runs directly past the complex.
Inside the northwest chimney, Lift 109 carries visitors up to a viewing platform at roughly 109 meters. From up there, the cityscape unfolds from a vantage point that few industrial buildings can offer.
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