Riverside west of the Tower south bank - Lambeth
Riverside west of the Tower south bank - Lambeth
Post to the north Lambeth Riverside
Post to the south Vauxhall and Riverside
Post to the east Kennington - Newington Butts
Albert Embankment
The riverside road here was Fore Street which was effectively destroyed by the building of the Albert Embankment. Buildings in Fore Street – pre 1860s – are listed under 'Fore Street' below, to avoid an overlong list and confusion.
The embankment was built out of the original shoreline in 1866-9 under Bazalgette to take the southern low-level sewer from Putney. Bazalgette's Assistant Engineer, John Grant, was supervisor, the contractor was William Webster and it was opened in 1868. It was named after Prince Consort. The embankment itself is a grey granite wall – apart from a short concrete section.
Lamp standards. There are 28 cast iron standards with entwined pairs of dolphins around a fluted, wreathed column with globular lamp holder and crown. The bases of the columns have the arms and monogram of the Metropolitan Board plus 1870' and "Vie Reg” as well as the foundry - Masfield & Co - and the architect, C Vulliamy. Facing the river are bronze lion heads with rings in their mouths. The walkway was opened in 1868 has four public benches with cast iron centre and end supports with arms fashioned in the shape of swans
Intercepting sewers. These run to Crossness under the embankment. It was built in 1866 70 with the low level sewer from Putney.
Bridges. The road is partly made up of bridges under which barges could pass below the Embankment to a basin one of which was in the Doulton works. Another is the Parish Dock which gives access to a draw dock. This is the old dock which stood at the end of what is now Black Prince Road and this was used to bring in clay and remove the made goods
Lambeth Bridge House. This was built in 1938 by Costain as the head-office of the Ministry of Works. It was then the largest office block in Europe. It was demolished in 2001 to be replaced by posh flats
1 Parliament View Apartments. Very posh flats built in 2001 by EDPR Architect. Built on the site of Lambeth Bridge House.
Doulton, Lambeth pottery. Doulton’s original factory was in Fore Street (see below). In 1876 they built two very ornate Gothic style blocks fronting onto the Embankment. They were in red brick and faced with Doulton terracotta. The architects were Tarring Son & Wilkinson. A and B blocks housed the offices, showrooms and architectural department. Adjacent was a 233 ft high chimney in Italianate style - with a balcony at the top. It was the tallest in London until 1936. In 1890- three were 70 kilns. Doulton vacated these buildings in early 1940 and they suffered Second World War bomb and were thus demolished in 1951. The site was purchased by Taylor Woodrow Ltd for redevelopment. It took seven months to clear. The last firing of a kiln took place in 1955 and the factory closed in 1956
Doulton House. This building contained the head office and showrooms. A tile panel above the main entrance showed 'Dutch Potters' and this is now in the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Inside were hand painted tile panels designed by Joseph Mott showing coat of arms of the towns where the company had works. Upstairs was a staff restaurant and a Memorial Hall was sited at the back with a stage and cinema. In the basement was an air raid shelter for 150 people.
3 Westminster Tower/ Doulton House. Built in 1980/82 replacing the 1930s building. It is a fourteen storey tower by the John S. Bonnington Partnership. It has been reclad and refurbished and is now flats called Westminster Tower
4 W H Smith. This newspaper seller and stationery chain opened their purpose-built Bridge House for their Bookbinding Works and Stationery Department in 1933. The building was symmetrical, with a tower ‘’a la Great West Road; and included a 150 ft tower with a clock which flashed the hours at night. In 1956 their book department also moved here but in 1967 distribution was moved to Swindon. The building was demolished in the mid-1970s
4 International Maritime Offices. Built by Worby, Marriott and Robins in 1977. The frontage includes the International Seafarers Memorial. This is the bronze bow of a ship, projecting from the entrance and appearing to emerge from the building by Michael Sandle. It is on the site of the W.H. Smith building
8 London Fire Brigade Headquarters. This was designed by the London County Council Chief Architect E.P. Wheeler and opened by George V in 1937. It has a strong horizontal emphasis with art deco influences. There are sculptural panels depicting aspects of the fire service by Gilbert Bayes. At the rear are a practise tower and an obelisk. An extension with the fire brigade control room, built in 1990 is also at the rear. There are also maintenance workshops. The London Fire Brigade were here from 1937 till 2007. It was decided to flog the site off to a developer so the Fire Brigade were moved to the old Royal Mail parcels sorting office in Union Street.
Fire Brigade Pier. This was directly in front of the ex Fire Brigade Headquarters Building. This was developed at the same time as the Brigade building but enlarged in 1990.
White Hart Dock, The origins of a dock and slipway here go back to the 14th. What remains here now was built in 1868 for the parish dock as part of the works for the Albert Embankment, constructed by the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was used in the Second World War as an emergency water tank and ‘EWS’ is still on the wall. In 2009, the Dock was cleaned and refurbished and decorative timber and model boats were installed
9 Now called Salamanca Square this is the former British Steel Corporation HQ. This was built by Grace & Fanner in 1957. It is now a mixed use building of offices and flats. A private college on the ground floor was suspended in 2013.
10 Wah Kwong House Hotel. This was previously a block by Oscar Gany & Partners built in 1963 and used most recently by various environmental standards agencies.
12-18 Queensborough House. Built in 1956 for the National Coal Board, this incorporated the Old Father Thames Public House . The pub had an adjoining wine bar in the basement called Tugs. Designed in 1954
18 Park Plaza Riverbank. Hotel. Built and opened in 2005. This is still known as Queensborough House.
20-21 The Corniche. This is a scheme for three towers with flats, a hotel and offices. This is on the site of what was Hampton House designed by TP Bennett in 1956.
22-26 Dock Labour Board HQ. This was one of the first office buildings to be built following the lifting of the post-war office building restrictions in 1954. It was designed in 1954 by Frederick Gibberd and opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956. It is now owned by a developer.
27-29 Prince Consort House - architects Pascal & Watson. Built in 1959. This is now owned by a developer with permission for a 30 storey tower and any social housing built miles away.
29 Art Metal Work Company. J Starkie Gardner. Gardner was 'Metalworker to King Edward VII', and for 50 years he was the foremost authority on the history of decorative ironwork. The business began in 1752 as a partnership between two families following a marriage. Their first factory was in here from 1885 to 1905 and they then moved elsewhere in the locality.
30-34 Eastbury House. This was built by Ian Fraser & Associates in 1958. There is now planning consent for more towers
35 The Rose. This was The Crown. Also called Rivers Bar and also apparently Tricky Dicky’s. This pub is from the 1850's when it was a Whitbread house. There is decorative ironwork
36 -37 Vintage House. The last remaining warehouse. A traditional gas mantel style lamp is attached to one of the left hand piers. From 1969 this was the head office of Sandeman, wine merchants. In the early 20th this building was called ‘Pomona House’ and was the London Offices of the Devon based cider company, Whiteway.
38-46 TheTexaco Garage
85 demolished the only reminder of an earlier age. It was called 'modern' in 1809 and in 1823 'replete with every office and convenience fitting for a Genteel Family'. Two storeys with two bowed projecting wings.
85 MI6 Headquarters. Monumental building in the post-modem style designed by Terry Farrell. This is thought to be the costliest office space in London, and the subject of many Parliamentary enquiries and complaints. The developers were supposedly saved from financial difficulty by a Government offer to use the building for MI6. There are hints at an underground fast exit route from Whitehall. Terry Farrell is the architect. It was built 1989 – 1992 with a series of interlocking terraces as part of its formal symmetry. There is also a new wall, promenade and gardens with fountains and a stone pergola with a walkway which runs back along the inlet of Lack's Dock – which serve as a security moat. The site was previously owned by Anglo-American Oil and had at one time been laboratories for Esso.
87-90 Camelford House. Designed by TP Bennett in the late 1950's and built in 1960. It is used as offices and at one time entirely occupied by British Telecom.
92 Tintagel House. Designed by TP Bennett in the late 1950's and built in 1960. It is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and was occupied by the Metropolitan Police as their computer centre until 2011 but has since been converted into flats.
93 Peninsular Heights. This was formerly Alembic House - a 15 storey tower designed by Oscar Carry & Partners and built for the United Nations Association in 1965. It was- remodelled and converted into flats in 1996,
Bust to 12th philosopher, statesman and poet Lord Basaveshwara.
Auckland Street
This is now a tiny turning off Kennington Lane, but it was once a road lined with houses which crossed the area of what is now spring gardens.,
1a Lord Clyde. 19th pub. This was closed in the 1990s and is now demolished. It was briefly a hostel and refuge for street sleepers.
Aveline Street
This was previoyusly Esher Street
The Moffat Institute. This was set up in Vauxhall Street in 1875 by Robert Moffat. It moved here in 1896 and Members of the Brixton Congregational Church, organised activities including free education for adults and children, penny dinners, social evenings, the Boys' Brigade and sewing classes for girls in these premises undertaking missionary work. It was rebuilt after Second World War bombing and became the Alford House youth club
Alford House Youth Club. Alford House was founded in 1884 by Frank Briant, Liberal MP for Vauxhall. It was based in Lambeth Walk. Since the death of Frank Briant in 1934 Mill Hill School Old Boys have sponsored it and constitute the Governors. The Moffat buildings were given to the club by the London Congregational Union in 1949.
Beaufoy Walk
This is on or near the site of Hutton Street.
26 Hutton Street. This was the site of the Cale Distillery of Burroughs Beefeater Gin. They moved here in 1908 from Cale Street in Chelsea with stills from Dore and Sons. By 1958 they needed more space and moved away.
Black Prince Road
The final section of the road between the railway and the embankment was once known as Broad Street. Then a short section was Lambeth Butts, and then Workhouse Lane. The name of Lambeth Butts probably refers to an area set aside for archery practice, a legal requirement in the middle ages. It has been suggested that this road was the ‘royal road’ from White Hart Stairs to Kennington Palace.
Kennington Palace. This stood between here and what is now Sancroft Street.It dated from the 12th but was rebuilt by the Black Prince from the 1340s. There was a large hall with a solar and a chapel, which was later enlarged with a second hall. It is thought that the bricks used here were made locally. It was demolished in 1531 and replaced by two manor houses demolished in the 18th.
South Bank House. This is the last bit of the huge complex of what was once the Doulton Pottery. It was built by Doulton in 1878 to show on the outside their range of bricks, tiles and mouldings. It housed the pottery's museum and art school. It is probably by R. Stark Wilkinson. Reliefs showing potters are by George Tinworth. It has been developed by Berkley Homes as flats and offices.
71 Queen’s Head pub. Dates from before 1780 and rebuilt. Comfortable island bar style pub with pictures of old Lambeth on walls. This is now a cafe
54 Imperial Pottery. This belonged to Stephen Green in the 1850s who produced a wide range of stone ware.
49 The Jolly Gardeners. This claims to be a German Gastro pub. It is said to date from around 1750, and been rebuilt in 1895. In 1968 it became the Jolly Cockney but has since reverted to its original name.
St.Mary the Less. Built in 1827 as a chapel of ease to St.Mary by Francis Bedford and later became a parish church in its own right. It was brick with a thin bellcote. Some Doulton ware plaques inside. Demolished and there is now housing on the site. It is shown with a school on both sides of the building.
Sullivan House. Flats built in 1927 by Lambeth Borough Council on the site of the demolished workhouse
Workhouse. Lambeth opened a parish workhouse in 1726 on this site in what was then Workhouse Lane. By 1777 it is said to have had 270 inmates. The Lambeth Poor Law Parish was set up in 1835 with a Board of Guardians who continued with the existing building. This became the subject of a number of stories about condition there, in particular the medical facilities where, in effect, no staff were caring for a nearly a thousand sick and/or insane people. In 1887-8, a new 'test' workhouse was built here was done to the designs of T.W.E.Aldwinckle for the able-bodied and a site in Renfrew road used for the aged and infirm. The site of the workhouse is now a small park. In 1927 built their four first blocks lf flats on the site. Two of the blocks were demolished after the Second World War and the site turned into open space, leaving gates which display the Council’s logo
Deacon House. Flats built in 1927 by Lambeth Borough Council on the site of the demolished workhouse
39 Beaufoy Institute. In 1850 Henry Beaufoy built the Lambeth Ragged School where John Doulton was a trustee. This site was sold to the London and Metropolitan Railway Companying 1903 it the Institute relocated here in 1907. It was designed as a technical institute for boys by the architect F.A. Powell. An extension to the main building was added in the 1920s. It is in Brick and terracotta with a ¬typical free treatment of Baroque motifs. There is a relief panel moved from the original 1850s building of a teacher and pupils and plaque. Inside is a central hall and classrooms. The staircase is made of brown glazed tiles with a moulded terracotta handrail. Begin is a caretaker’s house. The boy’s toilets have their original brown glazed ceramic urinals and the brown glazed tiling which runs through the building. It has been suggested that these are 'Cockrill-Doulton Patent Tiles', patented with Doulton ceramics and this was a test site for the system. This is now to be a Buddhist centre.
Citadel Place
This road is fenced off with no access. It seems to entirely consist of offices
National Crime Agency
Ethelred Street
This ran south of and parallel to Lollard Street
Windmill. This is shown on maps in the mid-18th. A watercolour of 1780 shows a three-storey tower mill with a stage at first-floor level and an unusually elongated windshaft at the front.
Ferry Street
Ferry Street ran very close to Westminster Bridge from the High Street to Fore Street. I t disappeared when the Albert Embankment was built.
Batstone's pottery No.5. This was owned by William Batstone. In 1870 he sued the Metropolitan Board of Works for loss of access to river water and to restrict use of the draw dock.
Ferry Street Pottery. In the 19th this was owned by Thomas Janeway and made brown salt glaze and Bristol Ware. He took over the Batstone works
James Stiff’s pottery. Stiff had worked as a mould maker for Doulton and Watts and set his own pottery works. In 1842, he began working at his own premises in Ferry Street, which had previously been the premises of T. Higgins. He was then making water filters. Although he also worked at 39 High Street he kept the Ferry Street premises until 1844.
Fore Street
This ran along the riverside before the building of the Albert Embankment in the 1860s. The sites below are in no particular order.
Ship Tavern. This was next to Lambeth Bridge and very close to it in Fore Street. Said to be occupied by Wentzell, boat builders
Whiting Works. Owned by James Cann. Here they washed and crushed chalk is used to make whitewash
Andrew Wentzell – made high quality racing boats. He was born in Stepney and apprenticed as a boat builder in Millbank. He supplied boats for lakes in pleasure grounds – including Crystal Palace and Victoria Park.
Edward Wyld. Wyld both built boats and sold them second hand - in 1859 he advertised –“four-oared outriggers, ratters oat rigged at bow stroke, four-oared gigs, randan tigs, and wherries, pair-oar outrigged gigs etc”. He also managed a boat house for Westminster Boys' School.
Doulton. Drain pipe wharf. Used to handle drain pipes from the High Street factory which was founded in 1846.
Robert Bain. Mast, oar, skull & pump maker,
Duke’s Head. Present in the early 19th and big enough to have a court attached to it
White Bear. Present throughout the 19th
Cross Keys. 19th pub
Three Merry Boys Pub 19th and earlier
Site of Princes Stairs – these were the stairs to which Princes Road – now Black Prince Road – led.
White Hart Stairs. These were at the end of Lambeth Butts
Alfred Hunt, bone merchant. Hunt, who had a works and a wharf here, is variously described as a soap or bone merchant. The firm moved in 1868 just over the Essex border to Stratford High Street, on the Lea, in order to escape regulation ns on noxious trades. Where they remained until the 21st. They appear to still be in business in the dead dog trade although their current location isn’t clear.
Whiting Works. A whiting works was owned by James Brunsden in the early 19th and later by Walford Jones. The wharf here was used by the works to unload chalk but was also used by the gas works for coal.
Bomb house stairs, mentioned in an early 19th gazetteer as being opposite Glasshouse Street – this seems to be the site usually shown as Gun House Stairs
Gun house stairs
Vauxhall Foundry. This was alongside what later became Gun House stairs. The Gun Founder was William Lambert working initially for the Government and the Marquis of Worcester. It was then sold to a Mr. Trenchard in 1652. This site is shown as being ‘Copt Hall’ but it is on the riverside and not the site of the later Vauxhall Gardens. After the Restoration there was an attempt to turn the building into a “College of Artisans” with Casper Kaltoff and Lambert. It is thought that cannon were cast here. The Marquis died in 1667 and the premises returned to be a sugar bakery.
Corn distillery. This site, shown on Horwood, may relate to an abortive plan for a distillery in this area put forward by the engineer Ralph Dodd.
Vauxhall Stairs. This is where people visiting Vauxhall Gardens would have disembarked after crossing the river.
John Baker Glass Works. This dated from before 1681 and was on the site of the present MI6 building. Baker, who was said to have experience in making plate glass, worked here in connection with the Duke of Buckingham. Some of the site is also thought to have been used by a John Bellingham, who later leased the whole site. It was probably demolished by 1704.
Patent Wheel Works. Owned by Theodore Jones.
Royal Flour Mills. This was owned and operated by members of the Brown family who controlled a number of mills in the London area. Charles Brown controlled a number of these. He opened this mill on the Albert Embankment but died in 1915 and the milling continued as a family business run by his sons, Edmund Dunn and Herbert Brown, but it was finally sold to Spillers in 1953. The Royal Flour Mills were demolished about 1955 to make way for new office blocks next to Tintagel House.
Fasset and Burnett. The firm was originally based at Horsleydown. As Sir Robert Burnett's distillery it was highly controlled by the Burnett family. As well as vinegar they made gin and bitters and some liqueurs. In 1927 the entire equipment of the refinery at Vauxhall was moved off to Canada and installed in the Distillers Corporation works in Montreal.
Glasshouse Walk
5 Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre.
1-5 This was the premises of an English branch of the St.Pauli Brewery Co. It was in use in 1911 for St. Pauli Breweries Co. Ltd., based in Bremen. They made the ‘Finest Pilsner Lager Beer. Girl Brand’. It appears to have been short lived here and the premises was used to make planes for the Government by 1917.
5 Leopold Laserson. This company made raw materials for the perfumery trade and were in occupation here since before the Second World War.
London Gas Light Co. The site immediately to the rear of no.5 was the London Gas Light Co. – indeed it appears from some maps that this may have been the entrance to the works. It had been set up in 1832 by engineer Stephen Hutchinson and was unusual in that it served customers both north and south of the river. The original site fronted onto the river but the building of the railway cut the site. For over thirty years this was the manufacturing station of the London Company. In 1834 it was one of the first gasworks to install a telescopic gasholder. In 1864 the company moved to their new works at Nine Elms however this works remained open for some time afterwards making specialist cannel gas. After closure three holders remained while the rest of the site went into other use.
Albert Works. This appears to have been on the part of the gas works site not used for holders. It was used by a building company run by Benjamin Ebenezer Nightingale from at least the early 1870s and rebuilt in 1901. They went out of business in 1909.
Adam, Grimaldi. In 1917 Albert Works was used by Adam, Grimaldi & co, the Invincible centrifugal pump and the Albert motor car were made here. In 1919 they were making aircraft parts – including the DH4 biplane in which Peace Conference delegates travelled to Paris. In 1923 they were taken over by Gwynnes of Hammersmith. The Albert was a four-cylinder car with four speed gearbox shown at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City. A Gwynne light cars was also made. However the company was bankrupt by 1923 and the works sold.
Park Works. This was a factory where wood-working machinery was made in the late 19th and early 20th.
31 G. Rigby, Lucifer match and India rubber paste and blacking manufacturer. This works was present in the mid-19th
85-86 British Essence Co., Ltd. Distillers, manufacturers and compounders of essences, essential oils and perfumes, 1920s
The south side is now parkland but it was previously a housing estate for the Guinness Trust
Goding Street
This street runs beside the railway and park land. There are numerous small businesses in the railway arches. It marks the western edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
Kennington Lane
At the western end of the road it runs along what was the southern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
247 Pilgrim Pub
250 Quadrant House. Building used as offices. This is shown as an Engineering Works in the 1950s as Electrical Engineers’. It also seems to have been used by an industrial clothing manufacturer
271 Kings Head Pub. This was closed in 1933 and has since been demolished
263-75 Tesco. The supermarket building itself is low which means the view of, the gasholders from Kennington Lane is improved
Tesco Car Park. This is the site of what was Gasholder Place.
Upper Kennington Lane Board School. This was apparently destroyed in Second World War bombing. This was a London School Board School which was built in the 1880s to some opposition. This is now the site of the Tesco store
275 School Equipment Centre. Set up by the London County Council as the largest education authority in the country to supply its schools. Designed by LCC architect Hubert Bennett in 1959
Drill hall and drill ground. This was alongside the school with a drill ground tom the rear. It appears to have gone by 1914. It was probably the hall of the 7th Surrey Rifles.
Sisters of the Holy Name Mission and Convent. The Community of the Holy Name of Jesus, originated with the newly built St. Peter’s in 1865. Some ladies got together for mission work, and they became the nucleus of a Community. They lived in poverty in Tyers Street and then moved to a larger house then numbered at 171 Kennington Lane
Kennington Liberal and Radical Club next door
310 St.Peter's Church. The parish was created from part of the district chapelry of Saint Mary-the-Less in 1861. The church was the first designed by John Loughborough Pearson and was consecrated in 1864. It was built to a precept that to confront and deal with urban overcrowding and poverty that churches should be large and magnificent but with attached social provision. In 1983 it became part of North Lambeth Parish. The church was built the edge of what had been Vauxhall Gardens and it has been said the altar is on the site of the Neptune Fountain or maybe on the site of the Moorish Tower. The church was built in the 1860s for the slum area which had developed here. The church currently hosts many music events and hopes to continue a musical heritage from Vauxhall Gardens. It has a T.C. Lewis organ installed in 1870.
308 St. Peter’s House. Late 18th house with an added top floor. Used as the Vicarage until 1980 and now the home of lay community attached to the church. This house was built in 1793 for Margaret Tyers daughter in law of the manager of Vauxhall Gardens.
Herbert House. Built 1860 as an orphanage for the daughters of ‘education men’ who were to be trained as pupil-teachers for the elementary schools.
St.Peter’s Schools. These stand at the back of the complex and included an art school. They were built in 1857. A soup kitchen was added in 1863.
Art School. Lambeth School of Art was founded in 1854 by the Reverend Robert Gregory as a night school in the national school with the support of Henry Cole the school flourished. In 1860 a new premises was built in what is now St Oswald’s Place.
323 Lilian Baylis Technology School. This is a secondary school. The school is named after Lilian Baylis the theatrical producer and manager. Until 2005 it was based in a 1960s school building in Lollard Street, and then moved to Kennington Lane.
349 Eagle aka Duke of Cambridge. Pub which dates from at least the 1860s
355 Royal Oak Pub. 19th pub with decorative front. Said to beenlock Brewery insignia on the windows
369 Szerelmey. Established in 1855 and they are a restoration and construction company. Nicholas Charles Szerelmey was a Hungarian officer serving in the Austrian army who was interested in ancient buildings particularly in Egypt. He began work on processes for restoring and preserving buildings based on their methods, calling it the zopissa induration process. In 1855 he set up a company in relation to decay o the stonework at the Houses of Parliament. This they continue to do.
363 St Anne Catholic Church. The Mission of St. Anne’s was established in 1892. In 189 the Diocese had acquired a site for a Church and school in Kennington Lane. On it were four houses one of which became the Clergy House. A three-storey building for infants, boys and girls was begun and opened in 1893. Frederick A. Walters was engaged as architect for a church and a foundation stone was laid in 1901. It was built bit by bit as money became available. An organ was acquired and the large tower which includes a heating chamber, a ringers’ room, and a belfry, which contains a bell by Mears and Steinbank. Work was also done in Harleyford ‘Road to secure a Settlement and other facilities and to upgrade the school
Vauxhall Electric Theatre. This was opened before 1910, and continued until at least 1915. It was on the corner with Glyn Street
Two tall concrete cyclinders, painted black, at the entrance to what is now Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
Railway Bridge. This carries Vauxhall Station, on the main line, and the line into Waterloo. It has had a series of cheery train related drawings on it.
372 Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Gay pub for many years with nightly shows and many top drag artists. It was built in 1863 land which was originally part of Vauxhall Gardens and was partly used as a music hall.
Vauxhall Station. The station opened in 1848 when it was a main line station running into Waterloo on the London and South West Railway. Supposed to have given its name to the Russian word for station Vokshal. And it is sometimes called ‘Vauxhall Bridge Station. It was the only intermediate station on the line built to connect the terminus at Nine Elms to somewhere nearer central London. Sir William Tite produced the first station at Vauxhall which was entirely timber. It disappeared in an unexpected and spectacular style fire in 1856, destroying the entire station structure. Since then there has been a four-platform layout with a centrally-located island in-between the middle tracks and outer lines served by platforms on cast-iron struts along the sides of the viaduct. The booking hall and waiting rooms were all to at street level. In 1892, the station was rebuilt with six platforms in three islands. With an ornate spiked canopy supported on a cast-iron framework. A pair of timber signal cabins were carried across five of the seven running lines upon lattice gantries. At the outset Vauxhall’s primary role was that of a ticket collecting station. With inspectors boarding London-bound trains to check tickets. The station building was no higher than the viaduct arches and had a stone exterior frescoed by a series of identical arches. The main building was approximately mid-way down the station’s western side and a spacious subway linked the islands through flights of stairs. Vauxhall had no visible goods facilities, but the handled very large quantities of milk traffic. Trains from Clapham Junction loaded with milk from the west country would pull into the down side platform, where a pipe was provided to the creamery on the other side of the road this ran through the pedestrian subway. In the late 19th more lines were added through Vauxhall and the station was altered. Electric services began during the Great War. Since then the station has been changed again – at one time a cleverly distorted BR logo was painted on the wall of the subway, only to be understood from one specific place.
Vauxhall Station is now also served by the Victoria Line which opened in 1971.
Juxon Street
This was once called Mill Street
The Mill. On the Rocque map is a circular building here and it is assumed this is a mill. A tall, ten-sided smock mill existed here through much of the 18th and appears on several later maps before 1791. It may have been used for pottery-making materials, and in 1760 a druggist called George Rudd was the tenant. In 1788, after Rudd’s death, the tenancy was transferred to trustees who included John Field, apothecary. During the next century the site was obliterated by the railway viaduct.
Lambeth Bridge
Lambeth Bridge is on the site of a horse ferry owned by the Archbishop. Following a petition this was replaced with a suspension bridge designed Peter Barlow which opened in 1862. In 1879 it was taken over by the Metropolitan Board of Works and its tolls were quashed. From 1910 it was closed to vehicles because of corrosion. It was replaced by a five-span steel arch with piers and abutments in Cornish Granite. It was designed by George Humphreys. Reginald Blomfield and G.Topham Forest for the London County Council. It was built by Dorman Long and opened in 1932
Lambeth High Street
This was once known as Back Lane
1 Palace View. Thus was The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's headquarters from 1976 until 2015. This was their offices and museum. The building was by the Louis de Soissons Partnership with eight storeys on a cramped site. They have now moved to East Smithfield. The building is being redeveloped as flats.
Recreation Ground. Land here was provided for a parish burial ground by Archbishop Tenison. In 1814 the trustees extended the burial ground with the land given to fund the girls’ school. This had a number of ancient houses on it and a passage called Tearoe's Alley, which was cleared in 1814. The burial ground was closed in 1853. In 1884 Lambeth Vestry turned it into a public garden. Gravestones were moved to boundary walls and the mortuary and watch house of 1825 remained – a stone now marks its site. In 1929 it was enlarged by Lambeth Borough Council who purchased a glass bottle factory in Whitgift Street. By the late 1970s it had been asphalted over, but it has now been re-landscaped with grassy mounds, a water feature, shrubs, seating, and pergolas.
18 Girls School. In 1706 Archbishop Tenison provided a girls' school in the space between Lambeth High Street and the burial ground. He provided funding for it with some of the land of what had been Norfolk House. In 1863 a new school building was provided. This closed in 1961, when it amalgamated with Archbishop Temple's Boys School to form a mixed Voluntary Aided school. The building was then used for first-year pupils until 1974, when it closed.
28 Doulton and Watts. John Doulton and John Watts moved their stoneware bottle manufacturing business here in 1826 from Mrs. Jones pottery in Vauxhall Walk where they had traded in partnership with her. In Lambeth High Street they were joined by John Doulton’s sons – John Jnr, and Henry. Both sons were to start independent businesses. In 1853 John Watts retired ending the partnership and the Doulton family merged their three independently operating businesses and formed a new partnership under the name ‘Doulton & Co.
Henry Doulton, the son, founded a separate firm but by 1853 he had acquired his father's pottery and then under his management, the firm expanded rapidly along the Lambeth waterfront, growing to fully occupy Lambeth High Street.
39 James Stiff’s London pottery. Stiff was born in 1808 in Suffolk. He worked as a mould maker for Doulton and Watts, having done an apprenticeship with Coade, and set his own pottery works in 1843. From 1842, he had premises in Ferry Street making water filters. Within a year Stiff he had leased the first part of the High Street premises. In 1863 Stiff brought his sons, William and Ebenezer, into partnership with him as James Stiff and Sons. He died in 1897 and his sons set up a new partnership which lasted until 1912. In 1913 firm was sold out to Doulton. Stiff & Sons produced bright colourful pottery.
44 Windmill. Pub behind the offices of Albert Embankment. The name of this pub may relate to the nearby smock mill and the mustard mill which stood opposite in the late 18th.
63 Henry Doulton manufactured sanitary ware and earthenware pipes from 1846
Griffiths Pottery. Abigail widow of William Griffiths was here 1768- 73 making delft ware.
Stonard and Watson. The Doulton Works was said to have been built on the site of this starch works.
Lambeth Walk
Lambeth Walk was in the 18th century a country lane known as Three Coney Walk.
Lambeth Wells. Mineral springs were discovered here which became Lambeth Wells in the 18th. The waters were advertised as a universal medicine. Bottles were sent out by the dozen and stamped with the proprietor’s seal. There were two wells here called ‘Nearer’ and ‘Farther’. Before 1697 a ‘Great Room’ was opened for music and dancing. In 1755 the dance hall lost its licence. A pub called the Fountain remained which was rebuilt in 1829.
105 The Fountain’ traded as a public house up to 1915. It then became a hosier’s shop and finally an eel and pie shop. Demolished as last link with Lambeth Wells.
73 London Eye. Cheap tourist hostel. This was the Journey Hostel, and before that the Lambeth Sportsman pub. It catered for the indoor sportsman with a vast stock of trophies. Originally it was The Angel founded before 1884.
120 George pub. Opened in 1977 closed and demolished by 2001.
189 Lambeth Walk Picture Palace
Laud Street
Late Cross Street.
Following the Leader. This sculpture is by Peter Peri and is a memorial to the children killed in the Blitz. Darley House was built in the late 1940s and it the piece is on the back stairwell. Peri had developed a technique for sculpting in wet concrete directly to a wall which attracted interest from industry and an exhibition of his work in 1938 had been sponsored by the Cement and Concrete Association. The composition shows children holding hands in a spiral towards the sky.
Lollard Street
This was previously East Street
103 Anchor & Hope. This pub closed in1912 and has now been demolished
114-115 Rose and Crown pub. Closed and demolished 1972
Lollard Adventure Playground. This was begun in 1954; the London County Council invited Lady Allen of Hurstwood to start an adventure playground on a bomb site. The LCC, Lambeth Council, the National Playing Fields Association and the Greater London Playing Fields association all contributed. The playground opened in 1955and continues to operate from the same site now run by the Kennington Association.
Lilian Bayliss School. This was originally the Beaufoy School. This had opened in 1964, amalgamating four secondary schools. When it built it was architecturally innovative in that it comprised of a number of linked buildings of two and three storeys. It was by the Architects Co-partnership in brown brick with shuttered concrete floors and beams. In 2005 the school moved to new premises in Kennington Lane. The site is now being developed for flats.
Arthur Sullivan was born in Bolwell Street which was demolished when the school was built.
Newport Street
This was previously called Doughty Street
Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery. Built to put his collection of over 2,000 artworks on display to the public. The gallery takes up three listed buildings flanked by new buildings designed by Caruso St John.
22 Beaconsfield Gallery. Lambeth Ragged School. Art gallery in two floors of the school and a railway arch. The School was built by Henry Beaufoy FRS in 1851 as a memorial to his wife. Initially it was known as the Beaufoy Ragged School and later as the Beaufoy Institute. Today it is an art gallery and cafe.
Old Paradise Street
The street was formed in the late 16th on some of the land on which Norfolk House had stood.
Norfolk House. Land which belonged to the Earls of Arundel and Surrey passed to the wife of the Duke of Norfolk. Catherine Howard spent her childhood here. In the late 16th the property was divided.
Sugden House boiler house. This has been redeveloped for housing and the chimney was preserved as a local landmark. The boiler house was part of a 1970’s district heating scheme
Oval Street
Kennington Lane Depot, London Borough of Lambeth. Closed in 2000
Railway Viaduct
The railway viaduct into Waterloo dominates the area and neturalises the frontages on the roads it travels alongside. It dates from 1846 when the construction of the Nine Elms to Waterloo Bridge extension began with Joseph Locke as engineer and building work subcontracted to Messrs. Lee. The proposed line was made up of four tracks, and after the first quarter mile east from Nine Elms it was laid upon a viaduct. This comprised six iron girder bridges, with a combined weight of 800 tons, in addition to 300 arches. The extension used than 80,000,000 bricks and the arches were covered with ‘’Seyssel Asphalt’’, making them completely waterproof and thus ideal for business use. The iron rails of the four-track layout accounted for a weight of around 1200 tons
Randall Road
The road runs alongside the railway and is blocked half way down.
Pedlar’s Park. This became a park in 1968. It was built on the site of the St Saviours Salamanca Street National School. The park is names after the ‘Pedlar of Lambeth’.
St Saviour’s Salamanca National School. This dated from 1870
Sail Street
This was previously Windmill Street
Sancroft Street
63 Duchy Arms pub. This has been taken over and run by two local residents. ‘Duchy’ refers to the Duchy of Cornwall who own and maintain this area.
Housing for the Duchy of Cornwall by the Louis de Soissons Partnership built in 1948.
Spring Gardens
Spring Gardens. This is a park created following Second World War bomb damage on a site which links back to the old Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens of 1661. There is an all-weather ball games area, and paddocks developed in association with the Vauxhall City Farm
Skytours. This tethered balloon offered rides with views of London. You didn’t actually go anywhere. Now closed down
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. These famous gardens covered the area between Kennington Lane, St Oswald's Place, Vauxhall Walk, Laud Street, and Coding Street. They were originally called New Spring Gardens and were the first public gardens to be opened. They were most popular during the 18th. Jonathan Tyers became the land Owner in 1728 and in 1832 spectacularly re-launched the park as a place of entertainment. He began to charge for entrance and laid on many musical events. Various buildings were built to house these events - although originally the arbours had been made of old coaches. In 1792 the Barratt family became owners set up firework displays, tightrope walks and balloon ascents from 1802. The balloons were inflated using coal gas in the 1830s, and gas was also used for lighting in the gardens. With another new owner in 1821 the gardens were re-named The Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. The site and its contents were sold by auction for £800 in 1859. This was a big and important site about which a lot has been written.
St Oswald’s Place
This was Miller Lane It marks the eastern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
Saint Paul's Chapel. This was on the eastern corner with Kennington Lane and used as a temporary church whilst the church of Saint Peter was being built. St. Paul. It is shown as ‘Baptist Chapel’ on 19th maps
Lambeth School of Art. This moved here from St Peter’s Schools round the corner. It was was founded in 1854 by Rev. William Gregory as part of his philanthropic work with the local poor. In 1879 it become the South London Technical School of Art. In 1937 it became the City and Guilds of London Art School. The school flourished and became a leader in the provision of instruction in applied art and design to working artisans getting them employment in local firms particularly in ceramics. In 1860 the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone for these premises. In 1863 Henry Doulton joined the management board and exhibiting experimental works by students. Students were trained for pottery design work primarily for Doulton. It is thought possible Van Gogh attended classes here. Many noted English modellers and sculptors owe their careers to this partnership. Later they secured the backing of the newly founded City and Guilds Institute funded backing by City Livery Companies. Some departments moved to become the South London Technical School of Art. In 1937 it changed its name to the City and Guilds of London Art School. After the Second World War II bomb damage prompted the establishment of restoration and carving courses to assist with the rebuilding London's damaged architecture. By the 1960’s the School had become more Fine Art orientated and the 1997 the Fine Art and Sculpture courses attained degree status. Many important 19th and early 20th artists trained here and Doulton pieces decorated by Lambeth artists are valuable collectors’ items.
Stoughton Close
Site of St.Mary’s Church and Schools.
Tinworth Street
Named for George Tinworth, main artist employed by Doulton
Tyers Street
64 John Bull pub. A family pub which closed in the 1990s. It is now flats.
Vauxhall Christian Centre. A London City Mission Centre, with community facilities and a food bank.
Vauxhall City Farm. A little piece of the country in the town where you can see pigs, ponies, a donkey, goats, ducks, calves, hens, rabbits, ferrets, and guinea pigs.In 1976, a group of architects were squatting at St Oswald’s Place and began working on a small vacant plot which became one of the Jubilee City Farm. Local residents grew vegetables and cared for livestock. The farm has a number of rare breed animals, a riding centre, education and youth projects, and a horticultural therapy group. Traditional techniques are used to spin wool from the sheep and alpacas, dyeing it with plants grown in the gardens. There is also a small garden with a pond and herb garden. In Tyers Street they are based in some of the rear buildings of St. Peter’s Church and School.
Vauxhall Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge. This is a steel and granite deck arch bridge Opened in 1906. It replaced an earlier bridge, designed by John Rennie which was at first called Regent Bridge but renamed Vauxhall Bridge. It was built between 1809 and 1816 and replaced a ferry. It wad disliked by the Thames Conservators did not like it because of the amount of dredging. As the first iron bridge on the Thames it was very expensive. It was a privately owned toll bridge brought into public ownership in 1879 by the Metropolitan Board of Works because of its poor state of repair.
The current bridge was built by the London County Council in 1906 to the designs of Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, W. E. Riley and Sir Alexander Binnie. There was however money available to put bronze statues on both sides on four piers made up of 8 women representing the arts. Upstream are by Lambeth Art School educated F.W.Pomeroy – Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering and Pottery. Downstream are by Alfred Drury – Local Government, Science, Fine Arts and Education. The bridge was the first in London to carry trams and one of the first two roads here to have a bus lane. The design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. It carries the A202 across the Thames.
Vauxhall Street
16 George and Dragon pub. Demolished 2015
38 Eclipse pub. Closed in 1915. Demolished
45 Derby Arms. Closed and demolished before the Great War
60 Duke of Clarence. Closed and demolished in the 1920s
133 Rising Sun pub said to have had a large nicely furnished saloon bar. The pub closed in 1995 and is now flats.
166-170, appears from directories to be the factory of W.E.Gayler, Piano maker. In the 1960's and '70's it was used as one unit by Englehard, metal refiners, making liquid gold and other liquid preparations for the ceramic trade'
Vauxhall Primary School. This was a London School Board School dating from the 1870s.
Vauxhall Walk
It marks the northern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
34 Albion Pub. Closed in 1910 and since demolished
49 Schweppes Mineral Water manufacturers. Factory built in 1912. By 1912 Schweppes were a major company with many outlets. Originating with a Swiss inventor on the 1790s they had moved in the 1890s to larger premises in Hendon and subsequently opened other manufacturing bases, including this one.
66 The Pheasant pub. Closed and demolished in the 1920s
139 The Queens Arms. Latterly called the Queen Anne it closed in 2011. This is now the Tea House Theatre founded in July 2011 by owner and director Harry Iggulden. It transforms into a theatre by night. Cafe in the day time
112 Black Dog. Pub which is still in business. In the 1860s this was also a Mineral Water factory. Owned by George Warner maker of ginger beer and mineral water
Albert Glass works. This was owned by Charles Henry Kempton in the late 1880's. He has married the daughter of a glassblower in 1860 and worked as a glass works labourer. He left to start his own lamp selling business in 1869 and in 1880 Charles and his sons started the Albert Glass Works. By 1917 they went their separate ways. And Richard was left to run the Albert Glass Works with his eldest son Reginald. This continued until 1920, when they closed it and moved elsewhere.
Wesleyan Chapel and schools in Vauxhall Walk date from 1841. The Chapel, stood back from the road, flanked by the Boys' and Girls' Schools of ragstone.
The Chapel, which stands back from the road, is built in yellow stock brick in Gothic style with lancet windows. The approach is flanked by the Boys' and Girls' Schools of ragstone.
Dust yard – there are a number of names associated with refuse disposal in this yard adjacent to Salamanca street. Booth in the 1890s mentions Clarkson as having contracts with a number of local authorities
St. Paul's National School
Roman Catholic school. In the early 1860s, a retired teacher opened a school in a disused shop near the Wesleyan Chapel. Soon after the Order of Notre Dame of Namur, built a school for girls and infants in Vauxhall Walk opposite what were later Guinness Buildings. The girls and infants’ building was sold in 1894 and in the 1940s in commercial use.
Vauxhall Motors. The very first Vauxhall car is said to have been built by Alex Wilson of the Vauxhall Iron Works in Harleyford Road who had a panel factory here. The first car was a 5hp single cylinder model steered using a tiller and with two forward gears but no reverse. -
Surrey Iron Works. Original building of c 1877 considerably expanded over the years, including both sides of street Horatio Myer founded the business in 1876 and the Company employed 19 people. Through the reign of Queen Victoria 18th and 20th Myer’s continued to grow. Initially solely maker of iron bedsteads, now still in same line. But divans/mattresses. In 1962 the Huntingdon site was opened, and from 1962 to 1982 Huntingdon and Vauxhall continued to manufacture beds and other furniture including display cabinets and coffee tables. In 1982 the Vauxhall plant was closed and all production was transferred to Huntingdon.
Myers First World War memorial has been returned to Vauxhall after a 30-year absence. It commemorates 13 employees of bed manufacturers Horatio Myer & Company who died in the 1914-18 war. It was removed by the Myer family when the company moved out of London in 1982 and has now been returned,
Doulton and Watts. The firm was initially here in 1815 and moved to Lambeth High Street in 1825. It had originated as Martha Jones' Union Pottery in 1812
Carmelita Centre sports and community centre run by local tenants’ organisations. It was an ex housing office leased to by Lambeth Living for use as a community Centre. It was named after Carmelita Tulloch who was murdered on a local estate street.
Whitgift Street
Windmill. This was a smock mill standing near the point where the railway arch now crosses Whitgift Street but in line with the Windmill pub in Lambeth High Street. This mill was probably used by the mustard mill shown at this point on the Horwood Map and may have been extant as a flour mill in 1845
Wickham Street.
Kempton Glass Works. Charles Henry Kempton started his own lamp selling business in 1869 and Ten years later he moved to Wickham Street where he manufactured flint glass.
Sure Start Children’s Centre
Worgan Street
Vauxhall Methodist Mission
Sources
Art blogs. Web site
British History. Online. Lambeth. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Cavanagh. Public Sculptures of South London
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. Face of London
Difford’s Guide. Web site
Dobson. A Century and a Quarter. Halls
Ffoulkes. Gunfounders of England
Gibberd. On Lambeth Marsh
GLIAS Newsletter
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Gosse. Sir Henry Doulton
Hillman. Underground London
Lambeth Walk Pub Crawl. Web site
London Borough of Lambeth. Web site
London Archaeology
London Encyclopedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Remembers. Web site
Lost Pubs. Web site
National Archives. Web site
Nazeing Glass Works. Web site
Osborne. Defending London
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
Renier. Lambeth Past
Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Web site
Stewart. Gas Works in the North Thames area.
St.Peter’s Vauxhall. Web site
Thames Basin Archaeology of Industry Group. Report
Thames Discovery Programme. Web site
Tradescant. Blog spot
Vauxhall City Farm. Web site
Vauxhall Society. Web site
VGERTA Web site
Victorian Web. Web site
Watts. Glassmaking in London
Workhouses. Web site
Post to the north Lambeth Riverside
Post to the south Vauxhall and Riverside
Post to the east Kennington - Newington Butts
Albert Embankment
The riverside road here was Fore Street which was effectively destroyed by the building of the Albert Embankment. Buildings in Fore Street – pre 1860s – are listed under 'Fore Street' below, to avoid an overlong list and confusion.
The embankment was built out of the original shoreline in 1866-9 under Bazalgette to take the southern low-level sewer from Putney. Bazalgette's Assistant Engineer, John Grant, was supervisor, the contractor was William Webster and it was opened in 1868. It was named after Prince Consort. The embankment itself is a grey granite wall – apart from a short concrete section.
Lamp standards. There are 28 cast iron standards with entwined pairs of dolphins around a fluted, wreathed column with globular lamp holder and crown. The bases of the columns have the arms and monogram of the Metropolitan Board plus 1870' and "Vie Reg” as well as the foundry - Masfield & Co - and the architect, C Vulliamy. Facing the river are bronze lion heads with rings in their mouths. The walkway was opened in 1868 has four public benches with cast iron centre and end supports with arms fashioned in the shape of swans
Intercepting sewers. These run to Crossness under the embankment. It was built in 1866 70 with the low level sewer from Putney.
Bridges. The road is partly made up of bridges under which barges could pass below the Embankment to a basin one of which was in the Doulton works. Another is the Parish Dock which gives access to a draw dock. This is the old dock which stood at the end of what is now Black Prince Road and this was used to bring in clay and remove the made goods
Lambeth Bridge House. This was built in 1938 by Costain as the head-office of the Ministry of Works. It was then the largest office block in Europe. It was demolished in 2001 to be replaced by posh flats
1 Parliament View Apartments. Very posh flats built in 2001 by EDPR Architect. Built on the site of Lambeth Bridge House.
Doulton, Lambeth pottery. Doulton’s original factory was in Fore Street (see below). In 1876 they built two very ornate Gothic style blocks fronting onto the Embankment. They were in red brick and faced with Doulton terracotta. The architects were Tarring Son & Wilkinson. A and B blocks housed the offices, showrooms and architectural department. Adjacent was a 233 ft high chimney in Italianate style - with a balcony at the top. It was the tallest in London until 1936. In 1890- three were 70 kilns. Doulton vacated these buildings in early 1940 and they suffered Second World War bomb and were thus demolished in 1951. The site was purchased by Taylor Woodrow Ltd for redevelopment. It took seven months to clear. The last firing of a kiln took place in 1955 and the factory closed in 1956
Doulton House. This building contained the head office and showrooms. A tile panel above the main entrance showed 'Dutch Potters' and this is now in the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Inside were hand painted tile panels designed by Joseph Mott showing coat of arms of the towns where the company had works. Upstairs was a staff restaurant and a Memorial Hall was sited at the back with a stage and cinema. In the basement was an air raid shelter for 150 people.
3 Westminster Tower/ Doulton House. Built in 1980/82 replacing the 1930s building. It is a fourteen storey tower by the John S. Bonnington Partnership. It has been reclad and refurbished and is now flats called Westminster Tower
4 W H Smith. This newspaper seller and stationery chain opened their purpose-built Bridge House for their Bookbinding Works and Stationery Department in 1933. The building was symmetrical, with a tower ‘’a la Great West Road; and included a 150 ft tower with a clock which flashed the hours at night. In 1956 their book department also moved here but in 1967 distribution was moved to Swindon. The building was demolished in the mid-1970s
4 International Maritime Offices. Built by Worby, Marriott and Robins in 1977. The frontage includes the International Seafarers Memorial. This is the bronze bow of a ship, projecting from the entrance and appearing to emerge from the building by Michael Sandle. It is on the site of the W.H. Smith building
8 London Fire Brigade Headquarters. This was designed by the London County Council Chief Architect E.P. Wheeler and opened by George V in 1937. It has a strong horizontal emphasis with art deco influences. There are sculptural panels depicting aspects of the fire service by Gilbert Bayes. At the rear are a practise tower and an obelisk. An extension with the fire brigade control room, built in 1990 is also at the rear. There are also maintenance workshops. The London Fire Brigade were here from 1937 till 2007. It was decided to flog the site off to a developer so the Fire Brigade were moved to the old Royal Mail parcels sorting office in Union Street.
Fire Brigade Pier. This was directly in front of the ex Fire Brigade Headquarters Building. This was developed at the same time as the Brigade building but enlarged in 1990.
White Hart Dock, The origins of a dock and slipway here go back to the 14th. What remains here now was built in 1868 for the parish dock as part of the works for the Albert Embankment, constructed by the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was used in the Second World War as an emergency water tank and ‘EWS’ is still on the wall. In 2009, the Dock was cleaned and refurbished and decorative timber and model boats were installed
9 Now called Salamanca Square this is the former British Steel Corporation HQ. This was built by Grace & Fanner in 1957. It is now a mixed use building of offices and flats. A private college on the ground floor was suspended in 2013.
10 Wah Kwong House Hotel. This was previously a block by Oscar Gany & Partners built in 1963 and used most recently by various environmental standards agencies.
12-18 Queensborough House. Built in 1956 for the National Coal Board, this incorporated the Old Father Thames Public House . The pub had an adjoining wine bar in the basement called Tugs. Designed in 1954
18 Park Plaza Riverbank. Hotel. Built and opened in 2005. This is still known as Queensborough House.
20-21 The Corniche. This is a scheme for three towers with flats, a hotel and offices. This is on the site of what was Hampton House designed by TP Bennett in 1956.
22-26 Dock Labour Board HQ. This was one of the first office buildings to be built following the lifting of the post-war office building restrictions in 1954. It was designed in 1954 by Frederick Gibberd and opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956. It is now owned by a developer.
27-29 Prince Consort House - architects Pascal & Watson. Built in 1959. This is now owned by a developer with permission for a 30 storey tower and any social housing built miles away.
29 Art Metal Work Company. J Starkie Gardner. Gardner was 'Metalworker to King Edward VII', and for 50 years he was the foremost authority on the history of decorative ironwork. The business began in 1752 as a partnership between two families following a marriage. Their first factory was in here from 1885 to 1905 and they then moved elsewhere in the locality.
30-34 Eastbury House. This was built by Ian Fraser & Associates in 1958. There is now planning consent for more towers
35 The Rose. This was The Crown. Also called Rivers Bar and also apparently Tricky Dicky’s. This pub is from the 1850's when it was a Whitbread house. There is decorative ironwork
36 -37 Vintage House. The last remaining warehouse. A traditional gas mantel style lamp is attached to one of the left hand piers. From 1969 this was the head office of Sandeman, wine merchants. In the early 20th this building was called ‘Pomona House’ and was the London Offices of the Devon based cider company, Whiteway.
38-46 TheTexaco Garage
85 demolished the only reminder of an earlier age. It was called 'modern' in 1809 and in 1823 'replete with every office and convenience fitting for a Genteel Family'. Two storeys with two bowed projecting wings.
85 MI6 Headquarters. Monumental building in the post-modem style designed by Terry Farrell. This is thought to be the costliest office space in London, and the subject of many Parliamentary enquiries and complaints. The developers were supposedly saved from financial difficulty by a Government offer to use the building for MI6. There are hints at an underground fast exit route from Whitehall. Terry Farrell is the architect. It was built 1989 – 1992 with a series of interlocking terraces as part of its formal symmetry. There is also a new wall, promenade and gardens with fountains and a stone pergola with a walkway which runs back along the inlet of Lack's Dock – which serve as a security moat. The site was previously owned by Anglo-American Oil and had at one time been laboratories for Esso.
87-90 Camelford House. Designed by TP Bennett in the late 1950's and built in 1960. It is used as offices and at one time entirely occupied by British Telecom.
92 Tintagel House. Designed by TP Bennett in the late 1950's and built in 1960. It is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and was occupied by the Metropolitan Police as their computer centre until 2011 but has since been converted into flats.
93 Peninsular Heights. This was formerly Alembic House - a 15 storey tower designed by Oscar Carry & Partners and built for the United Nations Association in 1965. It was- remodelled and converted into flats in 1996,
Bust to 12th philosopher, statesman and poet Lord Basaveshwara.
Auckland Street
This is now a tiny turning off Kennington Lane, but it was once a road lined with houses which crossed the area of what is now spring gardens.,
1a Lord Clyde. 19th pub. This was closed in the 1990s and is now demolished. It was briefly a hostel and refuge for street sleepers.
Aveline Street
This was previoyusly Esher Street
The Moffat Institute. This was set up in Vauxhall Street in 1875 by Robert Moffat. It moved here in 1896 and Members of the Brixton Congregational Church, organised activities including free education for adults and children, penny dinners, social evenings, the Boys' Brigade and sewing classes for girls in these premises undertaking missionary work. It was rebuilt after Second World War bombing and became the Alford House youth club
Alford House Youth Club. Alford House was founded in 1884 by Frank Briant, Liberal MP for Vauxhall. It was based in Lambeth Walk. Since the death of Frank Briant in 1934 Mill Hill School Old Boys have sponsored it and constitute the Governors. The Moffat buildings were given to the club by the London Congregational Union in 1949.
Beaufoy Walk
This is on or near the site of Hutton Street.
26 Hutton Street. This was the site of the Cale Distillery of Burroughs Beefeater Gin. They moved here in 1908 from Cale Street in Chelsea with stills from Dore and Sons. By 1958 they needed more space and moved away.
Black Prince Road
The final section of the road between the railway and the embankment was once known as Broad Street. Then a short section was Lambeth Butts, and then Workhouse Lane. The name of Lambeth Butts probably refers to an area set aside for archery practice, a legal requirement in the middle ages. It has been suggested that this road was the ‘royal road’ from White Hart Stairs to Kennington Palace.
Kennington Palace. This stood between here and what is now Sancroft Street.It dated from the 12th but was rebuilt by the Black Prince from the 1340s. There was a large hall with a solar and a chapel, which was later enlarged with a second hall. It is thought that the bricks used here were made locally. It was demolished in 1531 and replaced by two manor houses demolished in the 18th.
South Bank House. This is the last bit of the huge complex of what was once the Doulton Pottery. It was built by Doulton in 1878 to show on the outside their range of bricks, tiles and mouldings. It housed the pottery's museum and art school. It is probably by R. Stark Wilkinson. Reliefs showing potters are by George Tinworth. It has been developed by Berkley Homes as flats and offices.
71 Queen’s Head pub. Dates from before 1780 and rebuilt. Comfortable island bar style pub with pictures of old Lambeth on walls. This is now a cafe
54 Imperial Pottery. This belonged to Stephen Green in the 1850s who produced a wide range of stone ware.
49 The Jolly Gardeners. This claims to be a German Gastro pub. It is said to date from around 1750, and been rebuilt in 1895. In 1968 it became the Jolly Cockney but has since reverted to its original name.
St.Mary the Less. Built in 1827 as a chapel of ease to St.Mary by Francis Bedford and later became a parish church in its own right. It was brick with a thin bellcote. Some Doulton ware plaques inside. Demolished and there is now housing on the site. It is shown with a school on both sides of the building.
Sullivan House. Flats built in 1927 by Lambeth Borough Council on the site of the demolished workhouse
Workhouse. Lambeth opened a parish workhouse in 1726 on this site in what was then Workhouse Lane. By 1777 it is said to have had 270 inmates. The Lambeth Poor Law Parish was set up in 1835 with a Board of Guardians who continued with the existing building. This became the subject of a number of stories about condition there, in particular the medical facilities where, in effect, no staff were caring for a nearly a thousand sick and/or insane people. In 1887-8, a new 'test' workhouse was built here was done to the designs of T.W.E.Aldwinckle for the able-bodied and a site in Renfrew road used for the aged and infirm. The site of the workhouse is now a small park. In 1927 built their four first blocks lf flats on the site. Two of the blocks were demolished after the Second World War and the site turned into open space, leaving gates which display the Council’s logo
Deacon House. Flats built in 1927 by Lambeth Borough Council on the site of the demolished workhouse
39 Beaufoy Institute. In 1850 Henry Beaufoy built the Lambeth Ragged School where John Doulton was a trustee. This site was sold to the London and Metropolitan Railway Companying 1903 it the Institute relocated here in 1907. It was designed as a technical institute for boys by the architect F.A. Powell. An extension to the main building was added in the 1920s. It is in Brick and terracotta with a ¬typical free treatment of Baroque motifs. There is a relief panel moved from the original 1850s building of a teacher and pupils and plaque. Inside is a central hall and classrooms. The staircase is made of brown glazed tiles with a moulded terracotta handrail. Begin is a caretaker’s house. The boy’s toilets have their original brown glazed ceramic urinals and the brown glazed tiling which runs through the building. It has been suggested that these are 'Cockrill-Doulton Patent Tiles', patented with Doulton ceramics and this was a test site for the system. This is now to be a Buddhist centre.
Citadel Place
This road is fenced off with no access. It seems to entirely consist of offices
National Crime Agency
Ethelred Street
This ran south of and parallel to Lollard Street
Windmill. This is shown on maps in the mid-18th. A watercolour of 1780 shows a three-storey tower mill with a stage at first-floor level and an unusually elongated windshaft at the front.
Ferry Street
Ferry Street ran very close to Westminster Bridge from the High Street to Fore Street. I t disappeared when the Albert Embankment was built.
Batstone's pottery No.5. This was owned by William Batstone. In 1870 he sued the Metropolitan Board of Works for loss of access to river water and to restrict use of the draw dock.
Ferry Street Pottery. In the 19th this was owned by Thomas Janeway and made brown salt glaze and Bristol Ware. He took over the Batstone works
James Stiff’s pottery. Stiff had worked as a mould maker for Doulton and Watts and set his own pottery works. In 1842, he began working at his own premises in Ferry Street, which had previously been the premises of T. Higgins. He was then making water filters. Although he also worked at 39 High Street he kept the Ferry Street premises until 1844.
Fore Street
This ran along the riverside before the building of the Albert Embankment in the 1860s. The sites below are in no particular order.
Ship Tavern. This was next to Lambeth Bridge and very close to it in Fore Street. Said to be occupied by Wentzell, boat builders
Whiting Works. Owned by James Cann. Here they washed and crushed chalk is used to make whitewash
Andrew Wentzell – made high quality racing boats. He was born in Stepney and apprenticed as a boat builder in Millbank. He supplied boats for lakes in pleasure grounds – including Crystal Palace and Victoria Park.
Edward Wyld. Wyld both built boats and sold them second hand - in 1859 he advertised –“four-oared outriggers, ratters oat rigged at bow stroke, four-oared gigs, randan tigs, and wherries, pair-oar outrigged gigs etc”. He also managed a boat house for Westminster Boys' School.
Doulton. Drain pipe wharf. Used to handle drain pipes from the High Street factory which was founded in 1846.
Robert Bain. Mast, oar, skull & pump maker,
Duke’s Head. Present in the early 19th and big enough to have a court attached to it
White Bear. Present throughout the 19th
Cross Keys. 19th pub
Three Merry Boys Pub 19th and earlier
Site of Princes Stairs – these were the stairs to which Princes Road – now Black Prince Road – led.
White Hart Stairs. These were at the end of Lambeth Butts
Alfred Hunt, bone merchant. Hunt, who had a works and a wharf here, is variously described as a soap or bone merchant. The firm moved in 1868 just over the Essex border to Stratford High Street, on the Lea, in order to escape regulation ns on noxious trades. Where they remained until the 21st. They appear to still be in business in the dead dog trade although their current location isn’t clear.
Whiting Works. A whiting works was owned by James Brunsden in the early 19th and later by Walford Jones. The wharf here was used by the works to unload chalk but was also used by the gas works for coal.
Bomb house stairs, mentioned in an early 19th gazetteer as being opposite Glasshouse Street – this seems to be the site usually shown as Gun House Stairs
Gun house stairs
Vauxhall Foundry. This was alongside what later became Gun House stairs. The Gun Founder was William Lambert working initially for the Government and the Marquis of Worcester. It was then sold to a Mr. Trenchard in 1652. This site is shown as being ‘Copt Hall’ but it is on the riverside and not the site of the later Vauxhall Gardens. After the Restoration there was an attempt to turn the building into a “College of Artisans” with Casper Kaltoff and Lambert. It is thought that cannon were cast here. The Marquis died in 1667 and the premises returned to be a sugar bakery.
Corn distillery. This site, shown on Horwood, may relate to an abortive plan for a distillery in this area put forward by the engineer Ralph Dodd.
Vauxhall Stairs. This is where people visiting Vauxhall Gardens would have disembarked after crossing the river.
John Baker Glass Works. This dated from before 1681 and was on the site of the present MI6 building. Baker, who was said to have experience in making plate glass, worked here in connection with the Duke of Buckingham. Some of the site is also thought to have been used by a John Bellingham, who later leased the whole site. It was probably demolished by 1704.
Patent Wheel Works. Owned by Theodore Jones.
Royal Flour Mills. This was owned and operated by members of the Brown family who controlled a number of mills in the London area. Charles Brown controlled a number of these. He opened this mill on the Albert Embankment but died in 1915 and the milling continued as a family business run by his sons, Edmund Dunn and Herbert Brown, but it was finally sold to Spillers in 1953. The Royal Flour Mills were demolished about 1955 to make way for new office blocks next to Tintagel House.
Fasset and Burnett. The firm was originally based at Horsleydown. As Sir Robert Burnett's distillery it was highly controlled by the Burnett family. As well as vinegar they made gin and bitters and some liqueurs. In 1927 the entire equipment of the refinery at Vauxhall was moved off to Canada and installed in the Distillers Corporation works in Montreal.
Glasshouse Walk
5 Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre.
1-5 This was the premises of an English branch of the St.Pauli Brewery Co. It was in use in 1911 for St. Pauli Breweries Co. Ltd., based in Bremen. They made the ‘Finest Pilsner Lager Beer. Girl Brand’. It appears to have been short lived here and the premises was used to make planes for the Government by 1917.
5 Leopold Laserson. This company made raw materials for the perfumery trade and were in occupation here since before the Second World War.
London Gas Light Co. The site immediately to the rear of no.5 was the London Gas Light Co. – indeed it appears from some maps that this may have been the entrance to the works. It had been set up in 1832 by engineer Stephen Hutchinson and was unusual in that it served customers both north and south of the river. The original site fronted onto the river but the building of the railway cut the site. For over thirty years this was the manufacturing station of the London Company. In 1834 it was one of the first gasworks to install a telescopic gasholder. In 1864 the company moved to their new works at Nine Elms however this works remained open for some time afterwards making specialist cannel gas. After closure three holders remained while the rest of the site went into other use.
Albert Works. This appears to have been on the part of the gas works site not used for holders. It was used by a building company run by Benjamin Ebenezer Nightingale from at least the early 1870s and rebuilt in 1901. They went out of business in 1909.
Adam, Grimaldi. In 1917 Albert Works was used by Adam, Grimaldi & co, the Invincible centrifugal pump and the Albert motor car were made here. In 1919 they were making aircraft parts – including the DH4 biplane in which Peace Conference delegates travelled to Paris. In 1923 they were taken over by Gwynnes of Hammersmith. The Albert was a four-cylinder car with four speed gearbox shown at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City. A Gwynne light cars was also made. However the company was bankrupt by 1923 and the works sold.
Park Works. This was a factory where wood-working machinery was made in the late 19th and early 20th.
31 G. Rigby, Lucifer match and India rubber paste and blacking manufacturer. This works was present in the mid-19th
85-86 British Essence Co., Ltd. Distillers, manufacturers and compounders of essences, essential oils and perfumes, 1920s
The south side is now parkland but it was previously a housing estate for the Guinness Trust
Goding Street
This street runs beside the railway and park land. There are numerous small businesses in the railway arches. It marks the western edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
Kennington Lane
At the western end of the road it runs along what was the southern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
247 Pilgrim Pub
250 Quadrant House. Building used as offices. This is shown as an Engineering Works in the 1950s as Electrical Engineers’. It also seems to have been used by an industrial clothing manufacturer
271 Kings Head Pub. This was closed in 1933 and has since been demolished
263-75 Tesco. The supermarket building itself is low which means the view of, the gasholders from Kennington Lane is improved
Tesco Car Park. This is the site of what was Gasholder Place.
Upper Kennington Lane Board School. This was apparently destroyed in Second World War bombing. This was a London School Board School which was built in the 1880s to some opposition. This is now the site of the Tesco store
275 School Equipment Centre. Set up by the London County Council as the largest education authority in the country to supply its schools. Designed by LCC architect Hubert Bennett in 1959
Drill hall and drill ground. This was alongside the school with a drill ground tom the rear. It appears to have gone by 1914. It was probably the hall of the 7th Surrey Rifles.
Sisters of the Holy Name Mission and Convent. The Community of the Holy Name of Jesus, originated with the newly built St. Peter’s in 1865. Some ladies got together for mission work, and they became the nucleus of a Community. They lived in poverty in Tyers Street and then moved to a larger house then numbered at 171 Kennington Lane
Kennington Liberal and Radical Club next door
310 St.Peter's Church. The parish was created from part of the district chapelry of Saint Mary-the-Less in 1861. The church was the first designed by John Loughborough Pearson and was consecrated in 1864. It was built to a precept that to confront and deal with urban overcrowding and poverty that churches should be large and magnificent but with attached social provision. In 1983 it became part of North Lambeth Parish. The church was built the edge of what had been Vauxhall Gardens and it has been said the altar is on the site of the Neptune Fountain or maybe on the site of the Moorish Tower. The church was built in the 1860s for the slum area which had developed here. The church currently hosts many music events and hopes to continue a musical heritage from Vauxhall Gardens. It has a T.C. Lewis organ installed in 1870.
308 St. Peter’s House. Late 18th house with an added top floor. Used as the Vicarage until 1980 and now the home of lay community attached to the church. This house was built in 1793 for Margaret Tyers daughter in law of the manager of Vauxhall Gardens.
Herbert House. Built 1860 as an orphanage for the daughters of ‘education men’ who were to be trained as pupil-teachers for the elementary schools.
St.Peter’s Schools. These stand at the back of the complex and included an art school. They were built in 1857. A soup kitchen was added in 1863.
Art School. Lambeth School of Art was founded in 1854 by the Reverend Robert Gregory as a night school in the national school with the support of Henry Cole the school flourished. In 1860 a new premises was built in what is now St Oswald’s Place.
323 Lilian Baylis Technology School. This is a secondary school. The school is named after Lilian Baylis the theatrical producer and manager. Until 2005 it was based in a 1960s school building in Lollard Street, and then moved to Kennington Lane.
349 Eagle aka Duke of Cambridge. Pub which dates from at least the 1860s
355 Royal Oak Pub. 19th pub with decorative front. Said to beenlock Brewery insignia on the windows
369 Szerelmey. Established in 1855 and they are a restoration and construction company. Nicholas Charles Szerelmey was a Hungarian officer serving in the Austrian army who was interested in ancient buildings particularly in Egypt. He began work on processes for restoring and preserving buildings based on their methods, calling it the zopissa induration process. In 1855 he set up a company in relation to decay o the stonework at the Houses of Parliament. This they continue to do.
363 St Anne Catholic Church. The Mission of St. Anne’s was established in 1892. In 189 the Diocese had acquired a site for a Church and school in Kennington Lane. On it were four houses one of which became the Clergy House. A three-storey building for infants, boys and girls was begun and opened in 1893. Frederick A. Walters was engaged as architect for a church and a foundation stone was laid in 1901. It was built bit by bit as money became available. An organ was acquired and the large tower which includes a heating chamber, a ringers’ room, and a belfry, which contains a bell by Mears and Steinbank. Work was also done in Harleyford ‘Road to secure a Settlement and other facilities and to upgrade the school
Vauxhall Electric Theatre. This was opened before 1910, and continued until at least 1915. It was on the corner with Glyn Street
Two tall concrete cyclinders, painted black, at the entrance to what is now Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
Railway Bridge. This carries Vauxhall Station, on the main line, and the line into Waterloo. It has had a series of cheery train related drawings on it.
372 Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Gay pub for many years with nightly shows and many top drag artists. It was built in 1863 land which was originally part of Vauxhall Gardens and was partly used as a music hall.
Vauxhall Station. The station opened in 1848 when it was a main line station running into Waterloo on the London and South West Railway. Supposed to have given its name to the Russian word for station Vokshal. And it is sometimes called ‘Vauxhall Bridge Station. It was the only intermediate station on the line built to connect the terminus at Nine Elms to somewhere nearer central London. Sir William Tite produced the first station at Vauxhall which was entirely timber. It disappeared in an unexpected and spectacular style fire in 1856, destroying the entire station structure. Since then there has been a four-platform layout with a centrally-located island in-between the middle tracks and outer lines served by platforms on cast-iron struts along the sides of the viaduct. The booking hall and waiting rooms were all to at street level. In 1892, the station was rebuilt with six platforms in three islands. With an ornate spiked canopy supported on a cast-iron framework. A pair of timber signal cabins were carried across five of the seven running lines upon lattice gantries. At the outset Vauxhall’s primary role was that of a ticket collecting station. With inspectors boarding London-bound trains to check tickets. The station building was no higher than the viaduct arches and had a stone exterior frescoed by a series of identical arches. The main building was approximately mid-way down the station’s western side and a spacious subway linked the islands through flights of stairs. Vauxhall had no visible goods facilities, but the handled very large quantities of milk traffic. Trains from Clapham Junction loaded with milk from the west country would pull into the down side platform, where a pipe was provided to the creamery on the other side of the road this ran through the pedestrian subway. In the late 19th more lines were added through Vauxhall and the station was altered. Electric services began during the Great War. Since then the station has been changed again – at one time a cleverly distorted BR logo was painted on the wall of the subway, only to be understood from one specific place.
Vauxhall Station is now also served by the Victoria Line which opened in 1971.
Juxon Street
This was once called Mill Street
The Mill. On the Rocque map is a circular building here and it is assumed this is a mill. A tall, ten-sided smock mill existed here through much of the 18th and appears on several later maps before 1791. It may have been used for pottery-making materials, and in 1760 a druggist called George Rudd was the tenant. In 1788, after Rudd’s death, the tenancy was transferred to trustees who included John Field, apothecary. During the next century the site was obliterated by the railway viaduct.
Lambeth Bridge
Lambeth Bridge is on the site of a horse ferry owned by the Archbishop. Following a petition this was replaced with a suspension bridge designed Peter Barlow which opened in 1862. In 1879 it was taken over by the Metropolitan Board of Works and its tolls were quashed. From 1910 it was closed to vehicles because of corrosion. It was replaced by a five-span steel arch with piers and abutments in Cornish Granite. It was designed by George Humphreys. Reginald Blomfield and G.Topham Forest for the London County Council. It was built by Dorman Long and opened in 1932
Lambeth High Street
This was once known as Back Lane
1 Palace View. Thus was The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's headquarters from 1976 until 2015. This was their offices and museum. The building was by the Louis de Soissons Partnership with eight storeys on a cramped site. They have now moved to East Smithfield. The building is being redeveloped as flats.
Recreation Ground. Land here was provided for a parish burial ground by Archbishop Tenison. In 1814 the trustees extended the burial ground with the land given to fund the girls’ school. This had a number of ancient houses on it and a passage called Tearoe's Alley, which was cleared in 1814. The burial ground was closed in 1853. In 1884 Lambeth Vestry turned it into a public garden. Gravestones were moved to boundary walls and the mortuary and watch house of 1825 remained – a stone now marks its site. In 1929 it was enlarged by Lambeth Borough Council who purchased a glass bottle factory in Whitgift Street. By the late 1970s it had been asphalted over, but it has now been re-landscaped with grassy mounds, a water feature, shrubs, seating, and pergolas.
18 Girls School. In 1706 Archbishop Tenison provided a girls' school in the space between Lambeth High Street and the burial ground. He provided funding for it with some of the land of what had been Norfolk House. In 1863 a new school building was provided. This closed in 1961, when it amalgamated with Archbishop Temple's Boys School to form a mixed Voluntary Aided school. The building was then used for first-year pupils until 1974, when it closed.
28 Doulton and Watts. John Doulton and John Watts moved their stoneware bottle manufacturing business here in 1826 from Mrs. Jones pottery in Vauxhall Walk where they had traded in partnership with her. In Lambeth High Street they were joined by John Doulton’s sons – John Jnr, and Henry. Both sons were to start independent businesses. In 1853 John Watts retired ending the partnership and the Doulton family merged their three independently operating businesses and formed a new partnership under the name ‘Doulton & Co.
Henry Doulton, the son, founded a separate firm but by 1853 he had acquired his father's pottery and then under his management, the firm expanded rapidly along the Lambeth waterfront, growing to fully occupy Lambeth High Street.
39 James Stiff’s London pottery. Stiff was born in 1808 in Suffolk. He worked as a mould maker for Doulton and Watts, having done an apprenticeship with Coade, and set his own pottery works in 1843. From 1842, he had premises in Ferry Street making water filters. Within a year Stiff he had leased the first part of the High Street premises. In 1863 Stiff brought his sons, William and Ebenezer, into partnership with him as James Stiff and Sons. He died in 1897 and his sons set up a new partnership which lasted until 1912. In 1913 firm was sold out to Doulton. Stiff & Sons produced bright colourful pottery.
44 Windmill. Pub behind the offices of Albert Embankment. The name of this pub may relate to the nearby smock mill and the mustard mill which stood opposite in the late 18th.
63 Henry Doulton manufactured sanitary ware and earthenware pipes from 1846
Griffiths Pottery. Abigail widow of William Griffiths was here 1768- 73 making delft ware.
Stonard and Watson. The Doulton Works was said to have been built on the site of this starch works.
Lambeth Walk
Lambeth Walk was in the 18th century a country lane known as Three Coney Walk.
Lambeth Wells. Mineral springs were discovered here which became Lambeth Wells in the 18th. The waters were advertised as a universal medicine. Bottles were sent out by the dozen and stamped with the proprietor’s seal. There were two wells here called ‘Nearer’ and ‘Farther’. Before 1697 a ‘Great Room’ was opened for music and dancing. In 1755 the dance hall lost its licence. A pub called the Fountain remained which was rebuilt in 1829.
105 The Fountain’ traded as a public house up to 1915. It then became a hosier’s shop and finally an eel and pie shop. Demolished as last link with Lambeth Wells.
73 London Eye. Cheap tourist hostel. This was the Journey Hostel, and before that the Lambeth Sportsman pub. It catered for the indoor sportsman with a vast stock of trophies. Originally it was The Angel founded before 1884.
120 George pub. Opened in 1977 closed and demolished by 2001.
189 Lambeth Walk Picture Palace
Laud Street
Late Cross Street.
Following the Leader. This sculpture is by Peter Peri and is a memorial to the children killed in the Blitz. Darley House was built in the late 1940s and it the piece is on the back stairwell. Peri had developed a technique for sculpting in wet concrete directly to a wall which attracted interest from industry and an exhibition of his work in 1938 had been sponsored by the Cement and Concrete Association. The composition shows children holding hands in a spiral towards the sky.
Lollard Street
This was previously East Street
103 Anchor & Hope. This pub closed in1912 and has now been demolished
114-115 Rose and Crown pub. Closed and demolished 1972
Lollard Adventure Playground. This was begun in 1954; the London County Council invited Lady Allen of Hurstwood to start an adventure playground on a bomb site. The LCC, Lambeth Council, the National Playing Fields Association and the Greater London Playing Fields association all contributed. The playground opened in 1955and continues to operate from the same site now run by the Kennington Association.
Lilian Bayliss School. This was originally the Beaufoy School. This had opened in 1964, amalgamating four secondary schools. When it built it was architecturally innovative in that it comprised of a number of linked buildings of two and three storeys. It was by the Architects Co-partnership in brown brick with shuttered concrete floors and beams. In 2005 the school moved to new premises in Kennington Lane. The site is now being developed for flats.
Arthur Sullivan was born in Bolwell Street which was demolished when the school was built.
Newport Street
This was previously called Doughty Street
Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery. Built to put his collection of over 2,000 artworks on display to the public. The gallery takes up three listed buildings flanked by new buildings designed by Caruso St John.
22 Beaconsfield Gallery. Lambeth Ragged School. Art gallery in two floors of the school and a railway arch. The School was built by Henry Beaufoy FRS in 1851 as a memorial to his wife. Initially it was known as the Beaufoy Ragged School and later as the Beaufoy Institute. Today it is an art gallery and cafe.
Old Paradise Street
The street was formed in the late 16th on some of the land on which Norfolk House had stood.
Norfolk House. Land which belonged to the Earls of Arundel and Surrey passed to the wife of the Duke of Norfolk. Catherine Howard spent her childhood here. In the late 16th the property was divided.
Sugden House boiler house. This has been redeveloped for housing and the chimney was preserved as a local landmark. The boiler house was part of a 1970’s district heating scheme
Oval Street
Kennington Lane Depot, London Borough of Lambeth. Closed in 2000
Railway Viaduct
The railway viaduct into Waterloo dominates the area and neturalises the frontages on the roads it travels alongside. It dates from 1846 when the construction of the Nine Elms to Waterloo Bridge extension began with Joseph Locke as engineer and building work subcontracted to Messrs. Lee. The proposed line was made up of four tracks, and after the first quarter mile east from Nine Elms it was laid upon a viaduct. This comprised six iron girder bridges, with a combined weight of 800 tons, in addition to 300 arches. The extension used than 80,000,000 bricks and the arches were covered with ‘’Seyssel Asphalt’’, making them completely waterproof and thus ideal for business use. The iron rails of the four-track layout accounted for a weight of around 1200 tons
Randall Road
The road runs alongside the railway and is blocked half way down.
Pedlar’s Park. This became a park in 1968. It was built on the site of the St Saviours Salamanca Street National School. The park is names after the ‘Pedlar of Lambeth’.
St Saviour’s Salamanca National School. This dated from 1870
Sail Street
This was previously Windmill Street
Sancroft Street
63 Duchy Arms pub. This has been taken over and run by two local residents. ‘Duchy’ refers to the Duchy of Cornwall who own and maintain this area.
Housing for the Duchy of Cornwall by the Louis de Soissons Partnership built in 1948.
Spring Gardens
Spring Gardens. This is a park created following Second World War bomb damage on a site which links back to the old Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens of 1661. There is an all-weather ball games area, and paddocks developed in association with the Vauxhall City Farm
Skytours. This tethered balloon offered rides with views of London. You didn’t actually go anywhere. Now closed down
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. These famous gardens covered the area between Kennington Lane, St Oswald's Place, Vauxhall Walk, Laud Street, and Coding Street. They were originally called New Spring Gardens and were the first public gardens to be opened. They were most popular during the 18th. Jonathan Tyers became the land Owner in 1728 and in 1832 spectacularly re-launched the park as a place of entertainment. He began to charge for entrance and laid on many musical events. Various buildings were built to house these events - although originally the arbours had been made of old coaches. In 1792 the Barratt family became owners set up firework displays, tightrope walks and balloon ascents from 1802. The balloons were inflated using coal gas in the 1830s, and gas was also used for lighting in the gardens. With another new owner in 1821 the gardens were re-named The Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. The site and its contents were sold by auction for £800 in 1859. This was a big and important site about which a lot has been written.
St Oswald’s Place
This was Miller Lane It marks the eastern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
Saint Paul's Chapel. This was on the eastern corner with Kennington Lane and used as a temporary church whilst the church of Saint Peter was being built. St. Paul. It is shown as ‘Baptist Chapel’ on 19th maps
Lambeth School of Art. This moved here from St Peter’s Schools round the corner. It was was founded in 1854 by Rev. William Gregory as part of his philanthropic work with the local poor. In 1879 it become the South London Technical School of Art. In 1937 it became the City and Guilds of London Art School. The school flourished and became a leader in the provision of instruction in applied art and design to working artisans getting them employment in local firms particularly in ceramics. In 1860 the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone for these premises. In 1863 Henry Doulton joined the management board and exhibiting experimental works by students. Students were trained for pottery design work primarily for Doulton. It is thought possible Van Gogh attended classes here. Many noted English modellers and sculptors owe their careers to this partnership. Later they secured the backing of the newly founded City and Guilds Institute funded backing by City Livery Companies. Some departments moved to become the South London Technical School of Art. In 1937 it changed its name to the City and Guilds of London Art School. After the Second World War II bomb damage prompted the establishment of restoration and carving courses to assist with the rebuilding London's damaged architecture. By the 1960’s the School had become more Fine Art orientated and the 1997 the Fine Art and Sculpture courses attained degree status. Many important 19th and early 20th artists trained here and Doulton pieces decorated by Lambeth artists are valuable collectors’ items.
Stoughton Close
Site of St.Mary’s Church and Schools.
Tinworth Street
Named for George Tinworth, main artist employed by Doulton
Tyers Street
64 John Bull pub. A family pub which closed in the 1990s. It is now flats.
Vauxhall Christian Centre. A London City Mission Centre, with community facilities and a food bank.
Vauxhall City Farm. A little piece of the country in the town where you can see pigs, ponies, a donkey, goats, ducks, calves, hens, rabbits, ferrets, and guinea pigs.In 1976, a group of architects were squatting at St Oswald’s Place and began working on a small vacant plot which became one of the Jubilee City Farm. Local residents grew vegetables and cared for livestock. The farm has a number of rare breed animals, a riding centre, education and youth projects, and a horticultural therapy group. Traditional techniques are used to spin wool from the sheep and alpacas, dyeing it with plants grown in the gardens. There is also a small garden with a pond and herb garden. In Tyers Street they are based in some of the rear buildings of St. Peter’s Church and School.
Vauxhall Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge. This is a steel and granite deck arch bridge Opened in 1906. It replaced an earlier bridge, designed by John Rennie which was at first called Regent Bridge but renamed Vauxhall Bridge. It was built between 1809 and 1816 and replaced a ferry. It wad disliked by the Thames Conservators did not like it because of the amount of dredging. As the first iron bridge on the Thames it was very expensive. It was a privately owned toll bridge brought into public ownership in 1879 by the Metropolitan Board of Works because of its poor state of repair.
The current bridge was built by the London County Council in 1906 to the designs of Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, W. E. Riley and Sir Alexander Binnie. There was however money available to put bronze statues on both sides on four piers made up of 8 women representing the arts. Upstream are by Lambeth Art School educated F.W.Pomeroy – Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering and Pottery. Downstream are by Alfred Drury – Local Government, Science, Fine Arts and Education. The bridge was the first in London to carry trams and one of the first two roads here to have a bus lane. The design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. It carries the A202 across the Thames.
Vauxhall Street
16 George and Dragon pub. Demolished 2015
38 Eclipse pub. Closed in 1915. Demolished
45 Derby Arms. Closed and demolished before the Great War
60 Duke of Clarence. Closed and demolished in the 1920s
133 Rising Sun pub said to have had a large nicely furnished saloon bar. The pub closed in 1995 and is now flats.
166-170, appears from directories to be the factory of W.E.Gayler, Piano maker. In the 1960's and '70's it was used as one unit by Englehard, metal refiners, making liquid gold and other liquid preparations for the ceramic trade'
Vauxhall Primary School. This was a London School Board School dating from the 1870s.
Vauxhall Walk
It marks the northern edge of what was Vauxhall Gardens
34 Albion Pub. Closed in 1910 and since demolished
49 Schweppes Mineral Water manufacturers. Factory built in 1912. By 1912 Schweppes were a major company with many outlets. Originating with a Swiss inventor on the 1790s they had moved in the 1890s to larger premises in Hendon and subsequently opened other manufacturing bases, including this one.
66 The Pheasant pub. Closed and demolished in the 1920s
139 The Queens Arms. Latterly called the Queen Anne it closed in 2011. This is now the Tea House Theatre founded in July 2011 by owner and director Harry Iggulden. It transforms into a theatre by night. Cafe in the day time
112 Black Dog. Pub which is still in business. In the 1860s this was also a Mineral Water factory. Owned by George Warner maker of ginger beer and mineral water
Albert Glass works. This was owned by Charles Henry Kempton in the late 1880's. He has married the daughter of a glassblower in 1860 and worked as a glass works labourer. He left to start his own lamp selling business in 1869 and in 1880 Charles and his sons started the Albert Glass Works. By 1917 they went their separate ways. And Richard was left to run the Albert Glass Works with his eldest son Reginald. This continued until 1920, when they closed it and moved elsewhere.
Wesleyan Chapel and schools in Vauxhall Walk date from 1841. The Chapel, stood back from the road, flanked by the Boys' and Girls' Schools of ragstone.
The Chapel, which stands back from the road, is built in yellow stock brick in Gothic style with lancet windows. The approach is flanked by the Boys' and Girls' Schools of ragstone.
Dust yard – there are a number of names associated with refuse disposal in this yard adjacent to Salamanca street. Booth in the 1890s mentions Clarkson as having contracts with a number of local authorities
St. Paul's National School
Roman Catholic school. In the early 1860s, a retired teacher opened a school in a disused shop near the Wesleyan Chapel. Soon after the Order of Notre Dame of Namur, built a school for girls and infants in Vauxhall Walk opposite what were later Guinness Buildings. The girls and infants’ building was sold in 1894 and in the 1940s in commercial use.
Vauxhall Motors. The very first Vauxhall car is said to have been built by Alex Wilson of the Vauxhall Iron Works in Harleyford Road who had a panel factory here. The first car was a 5hp single cylinder model steered using a tiller and with two forward gears but no reverse. -
Surrey Iron Works. Original building of c 1877 considerably expanded over the years, including both sides of street Horatio Myer founded the business in 1876 and the Company employed 19 people. Through the reign of Queen Victoria 18th and 20th Myer’s continued to grow. Initially solely maker of iron bedsteads, now still in same line. But divans/mattresses. In 1962 the Huntingdon site was opened, and from 1962 to 1982 Huntingdon and Vauxhall continued to manufacture beds and other furniture including display cabinets and coffee tables. In 1982 the Vauxhall plant was closed and all production was transferred to Huntingdon.
Myers First World War memorial has been returned to Vauxhall after a 30-year absence. It commemorates 13 employees of bed manufacturers Horatio Myer & Company who died in the 1914-18 war. It was removed by the Myer family when the company moved out of London in 1982 and has now been returned,
Doulton and Watts. The firm was initially here in 1815 and moved to Lambeth High Street in 1825. It had originated as Martha Jones' Union Pottery in 1812
Carmelita Centre sports and community centre run by local tenants’ organisations. It was an ex housing office leased to by Lambeth Living for use as a community Centre. It was named after Carmelita Tulloch who was murdered on a local estate street.
Whitgift Street
Windmill. This was a smock mill standing near the point where the railway arch now crosses Whitgift Street but in line with the Windmill pub in Lambeth High Street. This mill was probably used by the mustard mill shown at this point on the Horwood Map and may have been extant as a flour mill in 1845
Wickham Street.
Kempton Glass Works. Charles Henry Kempton started his own lamp selling business in 1869 and Ten years later he moved to Wickham Street where he manufactured flint glass.
Sure Start Children’s Centre
Worgan Street
Vauxhall Methodist Mission
Sources
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Cavanagh. Public Sculptures of South London
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GLIAS Newsletter
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St.Peter’s Vauxhall. Web site
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Tradescant. Blog spot
Vauxhall City Farm. Web site
Vauxhall Society. Web site
VGERTA Web site
Victorian Web. Web site
Watts. Glassmaking in London
Workhouses. Web site
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