History
The station was commissioned following a power shortage in 1947. The building was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the designer of Liverpool Cathedral, Battersea Power Station and the Red telephone box. The building is a 200 m (660 ft) long, steel framed, brick clad building with a substantial central chimney which stands at 99 m (325 ft). The chimney's height was limited to less than the spire of St Paul's Cathedral, which already stood on the direct opposite side of the river. Despite strong local opposition, Scott's design was completed and accepted within a year.
Construction work was completed in two phases, and was not entirely completed until 1963. The western portion of the building was completed first and started generating power in 1952. The final structure roughly divided the building into three - the huge main turbine hall in the centre, with the smaller boiler room to one side and the switching room to the other. The station had four oil-fired generators. Rising oil prices made the station uneconomic, resulting in its closure in 1981.
Read more about this topic: Bankside Power Station
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