Battersea Power Station

Pigs On The Wing, Pink Floyd album.1977

Battersea Power Station, build in the 1930s--1950s.

a now unused coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames. The station ceased generating electricity in 1983, but over the past 50 years it has become one of the best known landmarks in south of London.

History ---

Until the late 1930s electricity was supplied by municipal undertakings. These were small power companies that built power stations dedicated to a single industry or group of factories, and sold any excess electricity to the public. These companies used widely differing standards of voltage and frequency. In 1925, parliament decided that the power grid should be a single system with uniform standards under public ownership. Several of the private power companies reacted to the proposal by forming the London Power Company. They planned to heed parliament's recommendations and build a small number of very large stations.

Station was designed by a team of architects and engineers. The team was headed by Dr S. Leonard Pearce, the chief engineer of the London Power Company, but a number of other notable engineers were also involved, including Henry Newmarch Allott, and T. P. O'Sullivan who was later responsible for the Assembly Hall at Filton. Theo J. Halliday was employed as architect, with Halliday & Agate Co. employed as a sub-consultant. Halliday was responsible for the supervision and execution of the appearance of the exterior and interior of the building. 

The A Station's interior was given many art deco fittings by architect Halliday. The control room was given art deco fittings, Italian marble was used in the turbine hall, and polished parquet floors and wrought iron staircases were used throughout. Due to a lack of available money following the Second World War, the interior of the B Station was not given the same treatment, and instead the fittings were made from stainless steel.

Each of the two connected stations consist of a long boiler house with a chimney at each end and an adjacent turbine hall. This makes a single main structure which is of steel frame construction with brick cladding. This is similar to the skyscrapers which were built in the United States around the same time. The station is the largest brick built structure in Europe. 

Cultural appearances ---
The Battersea Power Station Community Group think one of the main reasons for the power station's worldwide recognition is due to it having appeared on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals, where it was photographed with the group's inflatable pink pig floating above it. The photographs were taken in early December 1976 and the inflatable pig was made by the Zeppelin Airship company. The inflatable pig was tethered to one of the power station's southern chimneys, but broke loose from its moorings and, to the astonishment of pilots in approaching planes, rose into the flight path of Heathrow Airport. Police helicopters tracked its course, until it landed in Kent. Video footage of the photoshoot was used in the promotional video for the song "Pigs on the Wing". The album was officially launched at an event at the power station.
The Pink Floyd image has been parodied and paid homage to, for instance on:
The cover of The Orb's 1991 album, Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld.
The back cover of Les Claypool's Frog Brigade's 2001 album, Live Frogs Set 2, which is a full cover of Pink Floyd's Animals.
The station can also be seen on various other pieces of album artwork, including:
The booklet art for The Who's 1973 album, Quadrophenia.
The photograph on the sleeve of Hawkwind's 1977 album, Quark, Strangeness and Charm, is of the B Station's control room.
The cover of Jan Hammer's 1988 12" single of "The Runner (marathon mix)".
The back cover of Morrissey's 1990 album Bona Drag.
The background art for the cover of the 2001 Petula Clark boxed set, Meet Me in Battersea Park.
The cover of London Elektricity's 2005 album, Power Ballads. Silhouettes of the station's coal cranes were used on the cover of the group's Hanging Rock single.
A photograph on the inside case of Muse's 2009 album, The Resistance.

The Background from wikipedia.