A private tour inside Lambeth Fire Station, London Fire Brigade's Art Deco HQ

A few years back I was lucky to be invited inside the former London Fire Brigade HQ on Albert Embankment designed by EP Wheeler, embellished with works by Bayes and Babb. 

This opportunity had come about during a Zoom chat after my online talk about demolished London Art Deco buildings when Peter Rickard, a fireman at LFB who was sometimes stationed at the Lambeth building, asked me if I'd like to visit the interior. Er... yes please!

I apologise for taking so long to write this up, my excuse being that I wanted to tie it in with any news about the building going forward. I simply let the idea slip until now because the LFB recently announced that their museum will be reinstated at Lambeth. Phew! Ian wrote about it here. However, I am still unaware what will happen to the upper floors.

On 9th March 2021 I arrived at this Grade II listed building camera in hand to meet Peter. I think he was concerned about what was going happen to this magnificent building and was pleased to find a kindred spirit. I'd only once before ever been inside, restricted to the gorgeous foyer area to see the sculptural pieces, memorials and suchlike during what I guess what an Open House Weekend many moons ago. Though I do recall a small museum and information panels in that space. 

Peter led me at first across the floor where the fire engines are kept, stopping to say hello to the working staff, past staircases with marvellous Art Deco railings to another set of stairs and up to the areas used as offices and for recreation.

The octagonal shaped room is on the rear of the building overlooking the car park and inside it has the feel of being on a boat or, due to those tropical plants and linear balconies, at a run down Mediterranean holiday hotel.

A test dummy on the floor below made it look as if someone didn't enjoy their holiday!

The building is huge and contains many rooms but at the time of visiting only a small percentage were in active use as offices. Narrow corridors on the eight levels lead to what were offices, living spaces, shower rooms, and communal/recreation rooms with fabulous views across and along the Thames.

I now cannot recall if Peter said that firemen ever stay overnight now, but there is evidence that this was the case in years gone by, just check out one of the groovy bathrooms. What was that beige colour called?

Much of the building, especially on the upper floors, was clearly suffering from damp and water ingress, and many window frames were rusty. It's clear the utilities are mostly out of date, ditto the sanitaryware. Old coloured bathroom suites sell for decent money on eBay and reclamation sites like these days, so I hope when they do start renovations that the don't just dump it all.

A later extension at the rear (1980s?) – the interior looked like a film crew had just left the building. 

I wonder what's to become of all the empty and unused rooms? 

This facility had previously housed hundreds firemen and many more vehicles but today is only partly in use with many areas, especially on the upper floors, in dire need of more than a little love and affection.  There's a lot of general wear and tear to attend to, let along an upgrade of necessities.

What do you do with a building this size? 

It could be converted into a hotel or a hostel perhaps, but the amount of renovation and repairs needed to make it fit for purpose would be restrictive to say the least.

Any news/updates most welcome.

I'll write about the exterior separately another day but it might take me 5 years to get there!