8. Battersea and Commercializing a Landmark
While Bankside Power Station’s evolution into the Tate Modern Museum has been met with contemporary praise, the development of Battersea Power Station has been struggling to find momentum. Battersea Power Station has had a long relationship with London, even after its decommission in 1983.[1] The iconic four-tower structure has been featured frequently in pop culture, from The Beatles' 1965 movie Help! to the cover art of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, and it has been used as a filming location for productions such as The Dark Knight and Sherlock. [2] Due to Battersea’s status as a cultural icon, several redevelopment schemes have been proposed for the disused power station. Three years after the station’s decommission, tycoon John Broome, once owner of Alton Towers, buys the entire plot for £1.5m. [3] His development plans, designed by Fitzroy Robinson and initially costed at £35m fall through in 1989. In 1993, Victor Hwang’s Parkview buys the power station for £10 million, and a series of plans are proposed for the station, from designers such as John Outram, Phillip Dowson, and Cecil Balmond, who won the work after his collaboration with Toyo Ito on the 2002 Serpentine Pavilion. [4]
In 2007, Battersea Power Station receives Grade II* listing, protecting its structure from demolition and significant alteration, and Raphael Viñoly is appointed master planner, and by 2013 and after significant changes to previous plans, Fosters + Partners and Frank Gehry are brought on to join the Battersea development project. [5] While the results of this newest collaboration are still in the works, the nearly continuous commercial development over the past three decades at Battersea demonstrate a commercial desire to capitalize on the ‘brand’ of Battersea: its cultural iconic significance. While the building is loved by some and hated by others, its iconicity, cultural significance, and industrial heritage cannot be denied, and therefore can be considered a potential monument. The work of Battersea Power Station Development Co. represents an attempt to cash in on the iconicity of this potential monument, a 21stcentury move to capitalize on the importance of a building for profit. It raises many interesting questions regarding the relationship between the monument and city, and whether that relationship can be privatized, or monetized. While still an ongoing process, the evolution of Battersea Power Station will reveal just how successful the monetization of a monument can be in the future.