Inside Battersea Power Station’s first homes
The first residents have moved into Switch House West, Battersea Power Station’s first completed section

The first section of Battersea Power Station is now complete, and residents have moved into Grade II* listed building Switch House West. Once the location of the Power Station’s main switch gear, laboratory, battery and assembly rooms, it has now undergone a complete restoration by lead architect WilkinsonEyre.
The functional and the domestic merge in a space which maintains as many original features as possible. Remaining faithful to the building’s industrial history while rethinking the structure, the addition of three new floors added to the top now contain three-bedrooms apartments complete with private terrace. Studios and two-bedroom apartments, complete with the original brick and steel, are in the original building, with outside space to be found in both the two internal courtyards and a garden on top of Turbine Hall A. Interior architects Michaelis Boyd have configured the layouts of the apartments which centre around the riverside views offered from the Crittall floor to ceiling windows.
The interiors nod to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s original vision in two parts: the first phase of the Power Station, Battersea A, completed in 1933, is reflected in design details including the herringbone flooring in Control Room A. The second phase, Battersea B, was completed in 1955 and inspires the stripped-back industrial aesthetic of the building as a whole.
‘This is a key milestone for us in the long project to restore this beautiful building,’ says Sebastien Ricard, project director at WilkinsonEyre. ‘This celebrated industrial architecture, its epic scale complemented by refined contemporary details, now accommodates dwellings all slightly different in proportion, views, and configuration of indoor and outdoor space, including spectacular private terraces. The offer is unique both in terms of the Battersea Power Station development and the wider London market.’ Adds Simon Murphy, chief executive officer at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC): ‘The completion of Switch House West is a huge achievement and one of many key milestones in what will be the most transformational year yet in the regeneration of Battersea Power Station.’
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
-
Inside Abbey Road's refresh: touring the legendary studio's new interior
Abbey Road gets an interior refresh by Threefold Architects, bringing the legendary London recording studio in tune with the 21st century
-
A new book delves into Frei Otto’s obsession with creating ultra-light architecture
‘Frei Otto: Building with Nature’ traces the life and work of the German architect and engineer, a pioneer of high-tech design and organic structures
-
‘Disabled people have always been here’: a new V&A show centres on disability in design
Curator Natalie Kane takes us through five key exhibits from the London show, where design points the way to a more inclusive society
-
The Stuff That Surrounds, episode two: Inside the home of Vyrao founder Yasmin Sewell
In The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. For our second episode, we’re invited into the fragrance founder and CEO’s viridescent London home
-
Haller-lujah! USM is reimagined by Buchanan Studio
The Swiss modular furniture brand has collaborated for the first time with a UK-based design studio, and the tessellating results are spectacular
-
Tour the Italian ambassador’s redesigned London apartment
Nick Vinson is behind the dazzling overhaul of this ambassador’s apartment, a happy marriage of past and present, and a celebration of Italy’s rich design legacy
-
Discover midcentury treasures in Marylebone with Álvaro by Appointment
London is full of sequestered design havens, and Wallpaper* knows them all. Allow us to point you in the direction of Álvaro González’s shop window on Nottingham Place, home to a bonanza of beautiful 20th-century antiques
-
Step inside one of the Peninsula Residences: comfort meets luxury in London
Warmth permeates this exclusive address – one of 24 residences attached to The Peninsula London hotel, and the latest stop for Wallpaper’s interior design series, The Inside Story
-
Exploring this whimsical North London home feels like going down the rabbit hole
Wallpaper* series, The Inside Story, spotlights intriguing, exciting or innovative interiors. OntheSq is the result of a renovation of a beautiful period property, which has been dressed in a mélange of designs loosely inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland'
-
Introducing Wallpaper’s new video series, The Stuff That Surrounds
In The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. First up, we go inside the eclectic London flat of creative director and designer Veronica Ditting
-
Tamart’s ‘Clore’ floor lamp revives a modernist lighting classic
Tamart debuts the 'Clore' floor lamp, a handblown glass design originally created in 1963 for Sir Charles Clore's London penthouse