Instead of having one museum, Battersea Power Station has multiple locations on site where people can learn about the history of the building, and its role in powering London. This includes two exhibitions, a heritage centre and dozens of information plaques around the site. This post lists all the places at Battersea Power Station where you can learn more about its history.
Battersea Power Station Museum
There are seven places at Battersea Power Station where you can learn more about the building’s rich history. These include:
- The Power of Place Exhibition
- The Heritage Centre
- Lift 109 Exhibition
- Plant in the Park
- The Information Plaques around the Perimeter
- The Heritage Plaques inside the Power Station
- Control Room B
You can find out more about each of these locations below.
Power of Place Exhibition
Location: Battersea Power Station, Ground Floor, North Atrium
The Power of Place Exhibition is a free exhibition on the history of Battersea Power Station over the past 40 years. It follows the journey from when the Power Station closed in 1983, to when it reopened in 2022, made possible by a consortium of Malaysian investors.
This is a very small exhibition, and it only took me about 15-20 minutes to look around. There is a video playing on a loop, which shows the Power Station featuring in many forms of popular culture over the years. It includes a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1936 film Sabotage, and a video of the making of Pink Floyd’s album cover for Animals.
The exhibition also has information about some of the unrealised plans for Battersea Power Station. This includes the vision of John Broome, the developer of Alton Towers, to turn the Power Station into a theme park.
Outside the exhibition you will find a giant model of the Power Station, as well as one of the surviving 66kV circuit breakers dating from c1955 (shown in the photographs below).
The circuit breaker was relocated from Switch House East, which used to be filled with circuit breakers. Each was contained within brick compartments, with heavy steel doors to prevent a fire from spreading.
Heritage Centre
Location: Grosvenor Railway Arch
The second location where you can find out more about the history of Battersea Power Station, is the Heritage Centre. The Heritage Centre is located outside of the Power Station, under the railway bridge. The entrance is shown in the photograph below.
The Heritage Centre is a small building that only takes about 5-10 minutes to look around. It has a historic model of Battersea Power Station at the centre, and photographs of when the Power Station was in use. The Heritage Centre is the first stop for visitors who are arriving from Battersea Park, and like the Power of Place Exhibition, it is also free.
Lift 109 Exhibition
Location: Battersea Power Station, Level 1, Turbine Hall A
The Lift 109 Exhibition is the only exhibition within Battersea Power Station that you have to pay to visit. It is included in the chimney lift experience, so you can only access this exhibition if you are going up in the glass elevator.
The glass elevator takes you to an observation deck at the top of the north-west chimney, where you get 360-degree views of London.
A lot of the information that you’ll find at the Lift 109 exhibition is repeated at the Heritage Centre and Power of Place Exhibition. They do have a few interactive exhibits however, including an interactive lighting installation, that you won’t find anywhere else.
Pieces of the Original Plant & Heritage Plaques
There is a heritage trail around the outside of Battersea Power Station. This includes ten information plaques, and four pieces of the original plant which you can find in the park.
The four pieces of the original plant include a segment from one of the original chimneys, a switch gear panel, P box and T junction. These are all on the grass in between the Power Station and the river Thames.
There are also ten heritage plaques inside the Power Station.
Plaques Around the Perimeter
There are ten plaques around the perimeter of the Power Station. They provide information about the building’s past and present, how the Power Station once functioned, and how it was restored.
Some of these plaques are shown in the photographs below.
Plaque 1 – Design Icon
The first plaque explains the history behind the Power Station’s lavish art deco interior.
Plaque 2 – The Chimneys
The second plaque provides information about Battersea Power Station’s iconic chimneys, which were designed by British architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was also known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Liverpool Cathedral, and for designing London’s red telephone boxes.
Plaque 3 – The Brickwork
Battersea Power Station is the largest brick building in Europe, with around six million bricks. The third plaque has information about how the bricks were produced.
Plaque 6 – The River Thames
The sixth plaque is about the importance of the river Thames to the Power Station. The Power Station was built on the banks of the Thames so the water could be used to produce steam to power the giant turbines. The river also allowed coal to be delivered by boat.
Plaque 7 – The Chimneys Rebuilt
The seventh plaque is about the rebuilding of the four chimneys. The chimneys needed to be rebuilt as the smoke that came out of them had left them in a perilous state. Each was carefully taken down and rebuilt using the exact construction method and design as when they were first assembled.
Plaque 8 – Before the Power Station
The eighth plaque is about what existed on the land before the Power Station was built. In Anglo-Saxon times, the south bank of the river Thames was largely marshland. During the 17th century this part of Battersea was used to grow fruit and vegetables, which were then transported down the Thames to the rest of London.
Plaque 9 – Powering London
The ninth plaque is about the power that Battersea Power Station provided to London. Battersea once produced power for a fifth of London, including for Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.
Plaque 10 – Screen Icon
The tenth plaque is about how the Power Station has become a cultural and design icon over the decades. Most famously, Battersea Power Station appeared on the cover of Pink Floyd’s album Animals, with a flying pig floating between the chimneys. It also appeared in the music video for News of the World by The Jam in 1978.
Control Room B
Control Room B contains the Power Station’s original control desks, switch gear and synchroscopes. Two of the Heritage Plaques are also found in Control Room B, which is located in Turbine Hall B above the shopping mall.
Posts About Battersea
If you are looking for things to do near Battersea Power Station, check out the posts below.
This post was about the Battersea Power Station Museum
Thank you for reading my post about the Battersea Power Station museum. Battersea Power Station is a grade II listed building which has become a London landmark, with its distinctive chimneys. There are several other massive buildings along the Thames, which were also once power stations, such as Tate Britain which was once Bankside Power Station.
Tip: Battersea Power Station is on the London Underground on the northern Line.