Stockwell garage

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Interior view of the Stockwell Bus Garage
inside view
Interior view, view along the longitudinal axis
Detail view of the roof window
Stockwell Bus Garage, view from Binfield Road
Image taken from the corner of Binfield Road and Lansdowne Way
Exterior view of a vault, Lansdowne Way
Front of the hall

The Stockwell Bus Garage is a bus shed on Binfield Road in the Stockwell district of the London Borough of Lambeth (London SW4 6ST). It was built for the London Transport Executive (LTE) based on a joint design by the architects George M. Adie, Frederick C. Button and Partners and Thomas Bilbow , the architect of the LTE. At the time of its opening on April 2, 1952, it had the largest self-supporting roofed area in Europe.

Planning and construction

In the early 1950s, the London Transport Executive needed accommodation for two hundred new buses to replace the last trams in south east London. The lack of steel at that time and the requirement to achieve a very large uninterrupted hall area caused a move away from the steel frame of the roof structures that had been customary until then, in favor of reinforced concrete construction. A former residential area in the Stockwell district , the development of which fell victim to German air raids during World War II, was selected as the building site. AE Beer was the civil engineer and the work was entrusted to Wilson Lovatt and Sons, Ltd.

Construction work began in June 1950, but shortly after the construction work began, it was found that the expected gravel base was of irregular thickness. Research led to the finding that the building plot was in the former bed of the River Effra, which was diverted in the 19th century . Contrary to the original plans, the reinforced concrete arches of the hall had to be supported by pillars, which in turn rest on eight or nine concrete supports sunk deep into the clay floor.

The formwork for the arches was made of metal and wood. It was delivered in seven prefabricated parts and used one after the other for all ten arches. The beams were cast in four stages. First the pillars were poured. This was followed by the first about eight meters from both sides, then another 15 meters, and finally the connecting middle section of 12 meters in length.

Building

Externally, the hall presents itself as a typical example of the London architecture of the early 1950s. With the Stockwell Bus Garage the technology available at that time was used. The 115 meter long roof of the hall is made up of ten reinforced concrete girders with a width of 66 centimeters at the lower edge and a butterfly-shaped profile. They taper from about three meters in height at the bases to the middle of the arch to about 2.10 meters in height. Each one spans almost 60 meters with a clearance height of 12 meters in the center.

The ends of the girders rest on reinforced concrete pillars about five meters high. In the upper area, steel girders with an H-profile run around the entire hall and ensure stability in the longitudinal direction. On the outside of the first and last arch, another reinforced concrete girder with a width of only 46 centimeters is added, which together with the girder of normal width forms a 2.40 meter wide reinforced concrete box.

The nine barrel vaults between the pairs of girders are 12.80 meters wide and have roof windows more than four meters wide along their entire length. Seen from the outside, the pillars under the girders are visible as struts on which the curved roof rests.

At the front, to Binfield Road, there are three segment gates that open to the side, the other vaults each have twenty vertical windows. On the side of the hall facing Lansdowne Way, the first and last vaults have gates, and the rest also have windows. The front sides are also extensively glazed in the upper part. At the rear of the hall there are offices, social and workshop rooms in two additions, also made of reinforced concrete.

The garage offers almost 7,000 square meters of continuous parking space and was originally able to accommodate 200 buses.

Monument protection

Since 29 March 1988, the Stockwell is Bus Garage in the monument list of English Heritage as * listed building Grade II under the number 1,249,757th This makes it a particularly important building of general interest. This second highest possible classification expresses its importance in post-war architecture and the history of technology.

The Stockwell Bus Garage is located in the South Lambeth Road redevelopment area of the London Borough of Lambeth . An inventory of the area published in 2012 lamented the run-down condition of the building, which also affects its wider surroundings.

Todays use

The Stockwell Bus Garage will continue to be used as a bus depot. Several bus routes stop at the Stockwell Bus Garage and are operated by Go-Ahead London on behalf of Transport for London :

literature

Web links

Commons : Stockwell Garage  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b without author: London buses are sheltered by soaring wings of concrete at Stockwell Bus Garage , p. 14.
  2. ↑ a b c without author: London buses are sheltered by soaring wings of concrete at Stockwell Bus Garage , p. 10.
  3. ↑ without author: London buses are sheltered by soaring wings of concrete at Stockwell Bus Garage , p. 12.
  4. ↑ a b c without author: Stockwell Bus Garage , p. 557.
  5. ^ Lambeth Planning (Ed.): South Lambeth Road Conservation Area. Conservation Area Statement , p. 22.
  6. ^ Lambeth Planning (Ed.): South Lambeth Road Conservation Area. Conservation Area Statement , p. 10.

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 '26.4 "  N , 0 ° 7' 26.4"  W.