Greenwich Power Station
Four chimneys just east of the Old Royal Naval College have been part of the Greenwich waterfront for over a century. The power station beneath them was built by the London County Council between 1902 and 1910 to power the capital’s trams, and it later passed to London Transport to supply the Underground. It still does. The station is kept in reserve for the Tube to this day, and the coal jetty that once fed it still stands out into the river.
The chimneys were the subject of one of London’s earlier planning rows. The Royal Observatory on the hill behind objected that the smoke and the height would spoil the sky, and the two chimneys nearest to it were built shorter than planned. The station has burned coal, then oil, then gas, and the building itself is a plain, handsome piece of Edwardian engineering in brick and steel, with a row of tall arched windows along the river front.
From a height the chimneys are the surest way to find Greenwich. Look beyond the Wren buildings, where the river bends north around the Isle of Dogs.
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London from the South
London cityscape panorama with views from the south of the city across to the Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf and Greenwich with the O2 Arena (Millennium Dome) visible. The construction of the new Pan Peninsula Towers is almost complete.
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The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
This panorama shows the views over London from The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The Naval College site was planned out by Sir Christopher Wren for use as a home for retired sailors. Now the Naval College themselves have moved on, the palladian building is used by the University of Greenwich and Trinity College of…