APPENDIX 1
Tall buildings in Chelsea
Existing tall buildings in Chelsea are:
— London Underground's Lots Road Power
Station with its 84m high chimneys;
— Carlton Tower Hotel, Sloane Street:
16 storeys—the first of the tall hotels (1961); and
— the Council's World's End Estate:
19 storeys (Cadbury Brown with Eric Lyons) dating from the late
1960s.
Tall buildings visible from Chelsea are of two
kinds:
i. 19th century structures:
— National History Museum (Alfred Waterhouse);
— Colcutt Tower, Imperial College;
and
— Victoria & Albert Museum.
ii. 20th century buildings:
— Holiday Inn Hotel (formerly Penta
then Forum Hotel), Cromwell Road (116m/27 storeys)—a product
of a Government grant scheme to promote hotel development (1971-73);
— Knightsbridge Barracks (94m/29 storeys)
1970 (Sir Basil Spence)—a Government development pushed
through despite opposition from LCC/GLC and City of Westminster;
— Belvedere Tower, Chelsea Harbour
(77m/20 storeys) 1987—rushed through by an outgoing administration
on Hammersmith and Fulham in the one month gap between the abolition
of the GLC (31 March 1986) and the Borough elections; and
— Montevetro, Battersea (64m/13 storeys)
1999 (Richard Rogers Partnership)—called in by Secretary
of State for the Environment who appointed a specialist inspector
on modern architecture: allowed by Secretary of State.
The Society opposed the development of Montevetro
because of its effect on reducing the openness of the Thames as
seen from Cheyne Walk and Albert and Battersea Bridges.
It also opposed Lord Foster's design for a tall
apartment house at Albion Wharf, Battersea immediately opposite
Chelsea Old Church. This was subsequently reduced to 11 storeys.
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