1873 - Nationwide - Heath Street, London, UK
N 51° 33.407 W 000° 10.716
30U E 695579 N 5715517
This 1873 building was constructed as a fire station and is currently used by the Nationwide Building Society. It is located on the north west side of Heath Street at the junction with Holly Hill.
Waymark Code: WMT5GB
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/29/2016
Views: 0
The building has a prominent clock tower with a plaque on the Heath Street face of the building telling us:
The Clock Tower
Built in 1873
This building housed the
local fire station
until 1915
Erected by Heath and Hampstead Society
The clock tower also served as a watch tower and water tower when the building was the fire station.
The year is carved in to the building above and to the right of the first floor windows in Heath Street. The inscription reads:
AD 1873
The building is Grade II listed with the entry at the Historic England website advising:
Fire station, later bank, now building society with accommodation over. c1873. By GJ Vulliamy as head of the Metropolitan Board of Works' Architects' Department. Red brick with stone and terracotta dressings. Tiled gabled roof with stone bracketed eaves cornice. Venetian Gothic style.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys with irregular 3-5 storeys return to Holly Hill. Irregular fenestration. 3-stage rectangular clock tower rising from 1st floor on left hand return. Heath Street facade with C20 stone faced shopfrontage. 1st floor, 5-light arcaded window of attached columns carrying pointed arches; centre light blind with patterned terracotta plaque; stone sill string. Arch heads break into enriched stone and terracotta band at 2nd floor level inscribed "MBW AD 1873". Half-hipped gable with 2-light 2nd floor window in pointed arch recess with enriched tympanum and apron. Clock tower with dentil cornice at roof level and above narrow opening on each facade. Clock face on each facade with continuous projecting modillion cornice above. Return with gabled end bay having cornice at 3rd floor level; mostly paired sashes.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the watch tower was also a water tower, one of the first buildings for London's new horse-drawn fire brigade to have one. Originally also with steeple. The fire station closed 1915 when a new one opened in Lancaster Grove.
Visit Instructions:
When logging a visit to a waymark in this category, please provide one or more photos taken by yourself, and note down your impressions and any background information you may have.