Lots Road Power Station wasn’t just a Chelsea landmark, it was the driving force behind the rapid expansion of modern London.

Designed by American engineer James Russell Chapman, Lots Road Power Station was a 20th-century architectural star. Its two halls were clad in rich red brick and framed by four towering chimneys – the tallest in Europe when built, soaring 275 feet over the river Thames below.

The building’s brick elevations were punctured by vast, elegant arched windows, allowing natural light to penetrate into the cavernous depths of the huge structure. A band of raised circles ran along the building, just under the roof line – a final architectural flourish, on what is now celebrated as a proto-modernist masterpiece.

Often described as the “design grandfather” of Battersea Power Station, Lots Road Power Station was one of the first steel-frame buildings in the British Isles, wrought from nearly 6,000 tonnes of steel. The station consumed a staggering 700 tonnes of coal each day, ferried by river barges.

For almost a century, Lots Road Power Station generated electricity to power London’s Underground network, keeping the capital moving even during the Blitz of the Second World War. It provided the essential fuel for the city to grow into the thriving metropolis it is today, fanning new networks of connections between people and places.

London Transport posters attest to the extraordinary role Lots Road Power Station has played in energising and uplifting the capital. One describes the station as “the moving spirit of London”, while another likens its formidable switchboard – which controlled 450,000 units of current each day – to “the modern Jupiter, hurling his lightning”.