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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our weekly Architrivia.
Built between 1859 and 1865, Crossness Pumping Station was one of four Victorian-Era sewage treatment works spearheaded by Chief Engineer of London's Board of Works, Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (born on this day in 1819). It remains as an exceptional example of 19th-century British invention, engineering, and architecture, and now the magnificently restored facility is a masterpiece of the Industrial Age.
Located along the eastern stretches of the River Thames in Greater London, roughly 20 kilometres outside of the city centre, the Crossness Pumping Station is today the star attraction of the Crossness Nature Reserve. This is an unfathomable fate for what was once the last line of defense against a barrage of deadly diseases that had plagued the British capital for centuries prior to the advent of modern sewage treatment by none other than the facility's creator, Sir Joseph William Bazalgette.
Once described by noted architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as a "cathedral of ironwork," the interior of the Crossness Pumping Station is truly a marvel to behold. The masterfully restored exquisite ironwork found within the so-called "Octagon" and elsewhere within the facility is of a decorative quality not commonly associated with something as strictly utilitarian as a sewage treatment works.
Powered originally of four steam-driven pumps built by the James Watt Co. to Bazalgette's specifications, the engines, known as "Victoria," "Prince Consort," "Albert Edward," and "Alexandra," were able, at a speed of just 11 rpm, to move six tons of sewage per stroke per engine into a 27-million-imperial-gallon reservoir, before it was allowed to flow into the Thames during the ebbing tide. By the early 1890s, the system had been upgraded to separate solid and liquid waste, thus vastly improving the facility's effectiveness. Finally, during its last round of upgrades, the facility received a set of massive diesel-powered beam engines that were left in situ upon the facility's closure in the 1950s.
Listed as a Grade I historic building in 1970, Crossness Pumping Station, along with its remaining counterparts, is today protected by a Trust. Its interior and exterior architectural details have been beautifully restored to their original splendour, while "Prince Consort," the best-preserved of the four engines left on site, was brought back to life in 2003. A beautiful facility and an exquisite example of Victorian Industrial Age innovation and invention, the facility has been a popular site for film and television productions, including the 2009 film reboot of Sherlock Holmes.
Today a popular tourist attraction, especially on "Trust" days when the facility, along with the "Prince Consort" is in full operation, the Crossness Pumping Station exists as a testament to human innovation, and the solution to the "Great Stink" of London.
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