Battersea Park Cafe

H.A.Rowbotham, London, 1940

 

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The cafe terrace, showing the slender, steel columns, painted primrose yellow, designed to avoid obstructing the fine view across the lake 

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  • The cafe terrace, showing the slender, steel columns, painted primrose yellow, designed to avoid obstructing the fine view across the lake    
  • The cafe takes advantage of an ideal site, as the south-west aspect, which has been allotted to the terrace    
  • The cafe from the direction of the lake, showing the lawn in the foreground    
  • The other side of the building, that furthest from the lake, showing the small refreshment stall which is chiefly intended for sales to children    
  • The door shown is the general staff and goods entrance    
  • The cafe captures a beautiful view of the lake. The view centres on the waterfall on the opposite shore, and also on a new and very effective piece of landscaping which forms one of a number of improvements carried out in this and other L.C.C parks    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • Cross section A-A    

Partly open-air built on the east side of Battersea park lake, as part of a programme for improving amenities

The indoor cafe is a circular room about 12m in diameter with a service counter at one side. Half the opposite side consists of floor to celling glazing commanding views to the south-west over the lake.

A covered terrace, runs around half the circumference of the building. The equivalent space around the other half being taken up by public lavatories and by the kitchen and service space. On the north-east side projects a small refreshment stall.

The cafe is constructed with red brick external walls and internal walls and partitions of sand-lime bricks. There are concrete sub-floors with a finish of rubber in the cafe and composition in the kitchen and lavatories.

The window frames are all metal. The canopy of the terrace is supported on steel columns. The interior of the cafe is plastered and painted cream and the counter top and front are brick-red linoleum.

The cafe tables and chairs are specially designed in natural wood, cellulosed, the tables having linoleum tops.

Data

  • Completed: 1940
  • Floor area: 185m2
  • Sectors: Public realm, Retail
  • Address: Battersea Park , London, SW11 4JP, United Kingdom

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