British industrial architecture has been created, mainly from 1700 onwards, to house industries of many kinds in Britain, home of theIndustrial Revolution in this period. Both the new industrial technologies andindustrial architecture soon spread worldwide. As such, the architecture of surviving industrial buildings records part of the history of the modern world.

Some industries were immediately recognisable by the functional shapes of their buildings, as withglass cones and thebottle kilns of potteries. The transport industry was supported first by the growth of anetwork of canals, then of anetwork of railways, contributing landmark structures such as thePontcysyllte Aqueduct and theRibblehead Viaduct.

New materials made available in large quantities by the newly-developed industries enabled novel types of construction, includingreinforced concrete and steel. Industrial architects freely explored a variety of styles for their buildings, fromEgyptian Revival tomedieval castle,English country house toVenetian Gothic. Others sought to impress with scale, such as with tall chimneys as at theIndia Mill, Darwen. Some directly celebrated the modern, as with the "heroic"^[2]Power House, Chiswick, complete with statues of "Electricity" and "Locomotion". In the 20th century, long white "By-pass modern" company headquarters such as theArt DecoHoover Building were conspicuously placed beside major roads out of London.

From around 1700,Abraham Darby I madeCoalbrookdale the focus of theIndustrial Revolution with the production of goods made ofcast iron, from cooking pots upwards. His descendantAbraham Darby III made and assembled the sections ofThe Iron Bridge across the Coalbrookdale Gorge. The company'sBedlam Furnaces were depicted inPhilip de Loutherbourg's 1801 paintingCoalbrookdale by Night. The Iron Bridge influenced engineers and architects around the world, and was the first of many large cast iron structures. The gorge is now aWorld Heritage site.^[3][4]

• 
  Remains of Abraham Darby's Bedlam Furnaces, Coalbrookdale, built c. 1700
• 
  Coalbrookdale by Night
  by Philip de Loutherbourg, 1801
• 
  The Iron Bridge, designed byThomas Farnolls Pritchard, built 1777–9 using iron sections cast at Coalbrookdale

From 1700, Britain's economy was transformed by industrialisation, growth in trade, and numerous discoveries and inventions, making it the first country to take this step. The working population grew rapidly, especially in the north of England. The Industrial Revolution brought large-scaleiron smelting using coke,iron puddling,steam engines, and machine production of textiles. Work was organised in factories that operated several processes on a single site. Some industries, such assteelmaking inSheffield andtextile manufacture inLancashire, have left substantial surviving buildings; others such as mining and industrial chemistry have left scant remnants. Agricultural processing used corn mills,malt houses, breweries andtanneries; these advanced technically but did not create many large buildings because the industry was evenly distributed across the country, though multi-storey corn mills appeared around 1800 aswar raised grain prices.^[5]Murrays' Mills, Manchester was begun in 1798, forming the longest mill range in the world; the cotton mills were conveniently placed on theRochdale Canal, giving access to the18th century industrial transport network.^[6]

• 
  The multi-storey corn mill,Stamford Bridge, c. 1800^[7]
• 
  Murrays' Mills (for cotton) on theRochdale Canal, Manchester, begun in 1798, and then forming the longest mill range in the world^[6]

Industrial growth was accompanied and assisted by the rapid development of a nationwide canal network able to carry heavy goods of all kinds.^[8] Canals were cut so as to connect producers to their customers, for example the 1794Glamorganshire Canal linking the Welsh ironworks atMerthyr Tydfil to the harbour atCardiff. This spurred rapid industrialisation of theSouth Wales Valleys.^[9] The engineerThomas Telford undertook some major canal works, including between 1795 and 1805 the 126 feet (38 m) highPontcysyllte Aqueduct that enables theLlangollen Canal to cross theRiver Dee, Wales, and between 1803 and 1822 theCaledonian Canal linking a chain of freshwater lochs across Scotland with the enormousNeptune's Staircase, a series of eight large locks, each 180 feet (55 m) long by 40 feet (12 m) wide, that together enable barges to climb 64 feet (20 m).^[10]

• 
  Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee, Wales, 1795–1805
• 
  Pontcysyllte Aqueduct engraved byEdward Francis Finden from a drawing byRobert Batty, 1823
• 
  Telford's Neptune's Staircase of 8 locks on the Caledonian Canal, 1803–1822
• 
  View up Neptune's Staircase from nearLoch Linnhe

Chatham Dockyard on theRiver Medway inKent constructed and equipped ships of theRoyal Navy from the time ofHenry VIII for more than 400 years, using the most advanced technology for its ships and its industrial buildings.^[11][12]

• 
  Chatham Dockyard: from right to left (south to north) on river bank are: two Anchor Wharf Storehouses (Rope House behind); two shipbuilding slips (and Commissioner's House with garden, and beyond, Sail and Colour Loft); two dry docks (Clock Tower Storehouse behind); the old Smithery; two more dry docks (and beyond, Masthouses and Mouldloft); more building slips and Boat Houses. In the distance, ships at anchor on Gillingham Reach. Painting byJoseph Farington, 1785.^[13]

No. 3 covered slip in Chatham Dockyard provides a roof over a shipbuilding slipway, enabling the timbers of the ship under construction to stay dry and sound, unlike traditional outdoor construction. Its wooden rooftrusses were built in 1838.^[11][14] No. 7 covered slip, built in 1852, is one of the earliest metal trussed roofs.^[11]

• 
  Royal Navy Dockyard, Chatham: No. 3 covered slip, 1838, a shed to keep the timbers of the ship under construction dry.
  HMSGannet is on left.
• 
  Interior of No. 3 covered slip, showing wooden trusses and ample light. The slipway has been backfilled to serve as a store-room.
• 
  No. 7 covered slip, an early metal truss roof, 1852
• 
  Interior of No. 7 covered slip

Some industries had easily-recognised architectural elements, shaped by the functions they performed, such as theglass cones ofglassworks, thebottle ovens such as those of theStaffordshire Potteries^[15] or theRoyal Worcester porcelain works,^[16] the tapering roofs of theoast houses that dried thehops from Kent's hop orchards,^[17] and thepagoda-like ventilators ofScotch whisky distilleries.^[18]

• 
  The distinctive glass cones ofLemington Glass Works,Newcastle upon Tyne, c. 1900
• 
  Bottle kiln for firing ceramics atGladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. Early 19th century.
• 
  Engraving of The Royal Worcesterporcelain works beside theWorcester and Birmingham Canal, c. 1880
• 
  Oast houses atSissinghurst Castle, Kent, used for drying hops for beer. The two on the right are of the usual conical type. Early 19th century.
• 
  Strathisla distillery,Moray, founded 1786, with 'pagoda' ventilators c. 1872

In the mid-19th century, Britain became inBenjamin Disraeli's 1838 phrase the "workshop of the world".^[5][19] Production in many industries grew rapidly, assisted by the development of an efficient distribution system in the new railway network. This allowed industries to concentrate production at a distance from sources of raw materials, especially coal. It powered steam engines for mills of all types, for example freeing thecotton mills from having to be beside a fast-flowing river, and enablingiron foundries, andblast furnaces to increase greatly in size.^[5]

The wealth generated by the new industries enabled mill-owners to build to impress. The cotton magnateEccles Shorrock commissioned Ernest Bates to create a showy design for his India Mill atDarwen, Lancashire, complete with a 300 feet (91 m) tall Italianatecampanile-style chimney. This was built in red, white, and black brick, topped with cornices of stone, an ornamental urn at each corner, and an ornate cresting consisting of over 300 pieces of cast iron.^[20][21]

• 
  Eccles Shorrock's India Mill, Darwen and its 300 feet (91 m) high Italianate campanile chimney, 1867^[20]

Britain's railways, the first in the world, transformed both ordinary life and industry with unprecedentedly rapid transport. The railways showed off their importance with architecture that both referred to the past and celebrated the future.^[22] The French poetThéophile Gautier described the new railway stations as "cathedrals of the new humanity".^[23][a]Newcastle railway station, despite its curved platforms, was given a fully-covered roof in 1850, the earliest surviving one on the country.Bristol Temple Meads railway station has a cathedral-like exterior withGothic arches and a pinnacled tower, while the 1841 old station there had ahammerbeam roof, said to have been modelled onWestminster Hall's timbers.^[22] TheGreat Western Railway's engineer,Isambard Kingdom Brunel, indeed described the station as "a cathedral to the iron horse".^[26]Paddington railway station was designed by Brunel, inspired byJoseph Paxton'sCrystal Palace and theMünchen Hauptbahnhof.^[27]

• 
  Engraving of the opening ofNewcastle railway station, 1850
• 
  Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway built a hammerbeam roof for Bristol Old Station, 1841
• 
  Bristol Temple Meads's cathedral-like^[26] main entrance, 1870s
• 
  Paddington station, built 1854, seen in 1904

Industrial architects experimented freely with non-industrial styles. One of the earliest wasEgyptian Revival, a style that arose in response toNapoleon's conquest of Egypt, accompanied by a scientific expedition.Joseph Bonomi designed theTemple Works flax mill offices, in Holbeck, Leeds, modelled on theMammisi of theDendera Temple complex, in 1836–1840.^[28]

• 
  The Roman Mammisi at the Dendera Temple complex, Egypt
• 
  Temple Works flax mill offices, Holbeck, Leeds, designed by Joseph Bonomi in Egyptian Revival style, 1836–1840^[28]

AtStoke Newington, theMetropolitan Water Board's engine house was constructed to look something like amedieval castle, complete with towers and crenellation.^[29] Thepumping station at Ryhope,Sunderland, was built in 1869, more or lessJacobean in style with curvingDutch gables, and an octagonal brick chimney. The architectural historian Hubert Pragnell calls it a "cathedral of pistons and brass set within a fine shell of Victorian brickwork with no expense spared".^[30]

• 
  Medieval castle:
  Engine House,
  Stoke Newington, 1854–6^[29]
• 
  Jacobean, Dutch gables:
  Ryhope pumping station,
  Sunderland, 1869

TheBliss Tweed Mill atChipping Norton was designed in 1872 by George Woodhouse, a Lancashire mill architect. It is constructed of local limestone, and despite its 5 storeys, is grandly^[31] modelled to resemble aCharles Barry typeEnglish country house, with the addition of the dominant chimney stack, "a sophisticated aesthetic solution to a functional requirement".^[32] The chimney and curved stairwell tower are offset from the centre of the building, while the corners are balustraded and topped with urns.^[31]TheTempleton Carpet Factory inGlasgow has been called "the most remarkable display of polychromatic brickwork in Britain".^[33] It was built in 1892 byWilliam Leiper forJames Templeton and Son, for the weaving ofAxminster carpets. It was modelled inVenetian Gothic on theDoge's Palace in Venice.^[34]

• 
  English country house:
  Bliss Tweed Mill,
  Chipping Norton, 1872^[32]
• 
  Venetian Gothic:
  Templeton Carpet Factory,
  Glasgow, 1892

Some industrial structures have become landmarks in their own right. TheRibblehead Viaduct carries theSettle–Carlisle railway across theRibble Valley inNorth Yorkshire. It was built by theMidland Railway to a design by John Sydney Crossley, opening in 1876. Faced with limestone and with almost semicircular red brick arches, it is 440 yards (400 m) long and 104 feet (32 m) high. It is now an admired^[35]Grade II*-listed structure.^[36] Gas for domestic heating, produced from coal, was stored in enormous cylindricalgasholders, their iron cage frames now surviving in some places around the country as memorials to long-vanished industry (such as theBromley-by-Bow orOval gasholders).^[37]

• 
  Ribblehead Viaduct, designed by John Sydney Crossley, 1876
• 
  Nos. 4 and 5 Gasholders, Kelvindale, Glasgow, 1893^[38]

ThePower House, Chiswick is an electricity generating station, designed byWilliam Curtis Green and J. Clifton Robinson in 1901 for theLondon United Electrical Tramway Company. It is described by the architectural historianNikolaus Pevsner as a "monumental freeBaroque brick and stone composition"^[2] from the "early, heroic era of generating stations"^[2] with enormous stonevoussoirs. Above the entrance is a pair of large stone figures: one representing "Electricity", her foot on a globe, and her hand emitting lightning flashes by the rotor of agenerator; the other representing "Locomotion", her foot on anelectric tram and her hand on a winged wheel.^[2]

• 
  ThePower House, Chiswick, 1901:
  the "early, heroic era of generating stations"^[2]
• 
  'Electricity' and 'Locomotion' above the London United Electrical Tramway Company's Power House doorway

Arthur Sanderson & Sons' Grade II* listedwallpaper printing works inChiswick was designed by themodernist architectCharles Voysey in 1902, his only industrial building. It is faced in white glazed brick, withStaffordshire blue bricks forming horizontal bands; the plinth, door and window surrounds, and dressings are inPortland stone. It is considered an "importantArts and Crafts factory building".^[39] It faces Sandersons' more conventional 1893 red brick factory across a narrow street.^[39][40]Charles Holden's modernist station buildings for theLondon Underground freely combined cylinders with flat planes. An example is his "futuristic"^[41] 1933Arnos Grove tube station, which has a brightly-lit circular ticket hall in brick with a flat concrete roof.^[42][41]

• 
  Modernist wallpaper printing works for Sandersons byCharles Voysey,Chiswick, 1902
• 
  Charles Holden's "futuristic"^[41] Arnos Grove tube station, 1933

Alongside new styles of architecture came novel types of construction. William T. Walker's 1903–1904Clément-Talbot car factory^[b] on Barlby Road,Ladbroke Grove, had a traditional-looking office entrance in William and Mary style, built of red brick with stone pilasters, cornice, the Talbot familycrest, andPorte-cochère. The impressive frontage gave access to a vaulted marble-floored entrance hall that was used as a car showroom, while the main factory building behind it was an earlyreinforced concrete structure.^[43][44][45] The availability of new materials such as steel and concrete in industrial quantities enabled radically new designs, such as theTees Transporter Bridge. It has concrete foundations, poured in shafts dug usingcaissons, down to bedrock far below the high tide mark; the bridge structure is of steel, with granite piers.^[46][47]

• 
  Clément-Talbot car factory by William T. Walker, Ladbroke Grove, 1903–1904
• 
  Tees Transporter Bridge, designed byCleveland Bridge & Engineering Company and built bySir William Arrol & Co., 1911

The "daylight factory" concept, with long sleek buildings and attractive grassed surroundings, was brought in from America, starting inTrafford Park. They often had large windows and were placed along major roads such as theGreat West Road inBrentford, West London, earning them the name of "by-pass modern" factories. A well-known exemplar isWallis, Gilbert and Partners' 1932–1935Hoover Building in theArt Deco style; it was at the time derided for "its overtly commercial character", but is now Grade II-listed.^[5] The architectural historian Hubert Pragnell describes it as "the cathedral of modernism" and "an icon of 1930s design".^[1]

• 
  The Pyrene Building, Great West Road, Brentford, 1929–30
• 
  Coty Cosmetics Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, 1932

A distinctively different inter-war building is theCarreras Cigarette Factory, built 1926–1928 on an inner-city site inMornington Crescent,Camden. It was designed by the architectsM. E. Collins, O. H. Collins, and A. G. Porri in a combination of Art Deco and Egyptian Revival styles. The factory has a frontage of 550 feet (170 m) under a continuous cornice with flute lines painted red and blue. Its construction is modern, a pioneer ofpre-stressed concrete, but it is decorated to recall the glories of ancient Egypt, after the discovery ofTutankhamun's tomb in 1922. The company chose a black cat based on the Egyptian cat godBastet to symbolise its brand, and placed a pair of large cat effigies beside the entrance stairs, as well as smaller cat roundels on the building.^[48]

• 
  Columns atPanehesy's tomb, c. 1330 BC
• 
  Carreras Cigarette Factory, Camden, 1926–1928
• 
  The pair of black cats, modelled on Bastet, guarding the factory entrance

Since the Second World War, architects have created impressive industrial buildings in a range of modern or post-modernist styles. One such is the Grade II*British Gas Engineering Research Station atKillingworth, which was built in 1967 to a design by Ryder and Yates. Historic England calls it a "tour de force of post-war architecture with deliberate references to continental examples in the transformation of service elements into sculptural forms".^[5]CZWG'sAztec West in the Bristol West Business Park uses horizontal stripes of brickwork interrupted by tall narrow windows and white concrete bevels to give a pilaster effect and, with its symmetrical concave-fronted buildings, an echo of Art Deco style.^[49]

• 
  British Gas Engineering Research Station, Killingworth, 1967
• 
  Aztec West, Bristol, by CZWG, 1987

The partnership of architecture and engineering is seen inHeathrow Airport'sTerminal 5 building, opened in 2008. It is 1,299 feet (396 m) long, 577 feet (176 m) wide and 130 feet (40 m) tall, making it the largest free-standing building in Britain. The roof is supported on exposed hinged trusses. The architects wereRichard Rogers Partnership assisted by aviation architectsPascall+Watson, and the engineers wereArup for the above-ground works andMott MacDonald for the substructures.^[50][51]

• 
  Exposed trusses inside Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, 2008

• Cherry, Bridget;Pevsner, Nikolaus (1991).The Buildings of England. London 3: North West. London: Penguin Books.ISBN 978-0-14-071048-9.OCLC 24722942.
• Historic England (April 2011). "Historical Summary".Industrial Buildings: Listing Selection Guide.Historic England. pp. 2–6.
• Jackson, Alan (1984) [1969].London's Termini (Revised ed.). London:David & Charles.ISBN 0-330-02747-6.
• Jones, Edgar (1985).Industrial Architecture in Britain: 1750–1939. Oxford:Facts on File.ISBN 978-0-8160-1295-4.OCLC 12286054.
• Parissien, Steven (1997).Station to Station. London:Phaidon Press.ISBN 978-0-71483-467-2.
• Pearson, Lynn (2016).Victorian and Edwardian British Industrial Architecture. Crowood Press.ISBN 978-1-78500-189-5.OCLC 959428302.
• Pragnell, Hubert J. (2021) [2000].Industrial Britain: an Architectural History.Batsford.ISBN 978-1-84994-733-6.OCLC 1259509747.
• Thomas, Bruce (1992). "Merthyr Tydfil and Early Ironworks in South Wales". In Garner, John (ed.).The Company Town: architecture and society in the early industrial age. New York:Oxford University Press. pp. 17–42.ISBN 978-1-4294-0727-4.OCLC 252590032.
• Winter, John (1970).Industrial Architecture: A Survey of Factory Building. London: Studio Vista.OCLC 473557982.

• Architecture in the United Kingdom
• Industrial Revolution

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