Control Room “A”

CONTROL ROOM “A” - BEFORE RESTORATION, BRITISH ART DECO HIGH-TECH:

Built between 1929 and 1931, Control Room A was the Power Station’s original control room; its controls and dials sending power across the capital from Carnaby Street to Wimbledon – even powering Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament – from 1933. Art Deco style was of the moment with Control Room A boasting teak parquet flooring laid in a herringbone pattern and walls tiled in grey Italian marble offset by black Belgian marble detailing through the room, matched by a gold painted coffered glass ceiling.

At its peak, Battersea Power Station produced a fifth of London’s electricity, and Control Room A, later joined by Control Room B, which was finished in the 1950s, managed the distribution of electricity generated by the Power Station’s turbines. Control Room A remained in use until 1975 when the 1930s half of the building, which includes Turbine Hall A, closed down. Battersea Power Station was fully decommissioned in 1983.