London Museum of Water & Steam

Kew Bridge Pumping Station opened in 1838 for the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, supplying Paddington and Kensington and, by the twentieth century, much of west London. The main building was listed Grade I on 21 May 1973 and amended on 18 October 1990 as list entry 1358343; the standpipe tower is the landmark from Kew Bridge. Seven list entries cover the site in all: the three at Grade I and four at Grade II — the range of ancillary buildings including forge and workshops, NHLE 1074198; the boiler houses, coal store, steam engine house and link to the Great Engine House, NHLE 1189859; the railings, two sets of gatepiers and wall fronting Kew Bridge Road, NHLE 1189883; and the gatehouse and boundary wall, NHLE 1245023. The Grand Junction 90 inch engine of 1846 stands over 40 feet high and weighs about 250 tons, and Dickens called it "a monster". The last steam pumping of drinking water on the site was a demonstration run of the 100 inch engine of 1869, in 1958. The museum was founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum and rebranded in early 2014. Kew Bridge station, on South Western Railway, is 208 m away; Gunnersbury Underground station is 1,068 m on the District line and Gunnersbury station 1,062 m on the Overground's Mildmay line.