Belsize Fire Station

Belsize Fire Station was designed by the architects Charles Winmill and Owen Fleming^[1] on behalf of London County Council,^[2] and built between 1912 and 1915 to replace a previous fire station in St John's Wood.^[1] It is built in Arts and Crafts style,^[2] in the style of an artist's studio.^[3] The building is made of brick with a flint roof,^[1] and contains glazed brick arches.^[4] The original building contained one bedroom apartments used to house firefighters,^[2] as well as a recreation room and separate billiard room.^[3]

Belsize Fire Station covers an area of 0.44 acres (19,000 ft²).^[5] In 1974 it became a Grade II* listed building.^[1] The Fire Station was in London Fire Brigade zone A, which went as far as Westminster and Hammersmith.^[6] Fire crews from Belsize Fire Station were involved in the aftermath of the 1987 King's Cross fire, the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and a 2012 fire in the Taplow Block of flats.^[7]

The fire station was closed in 2014;^[2] it was one of nine fire stations in Greater London closed in that year due to budget cuts.^[8] In 2015, the building was sold for £20 million to an unknown buyer.^[5] In 2017, planning permission was given to convert Belsize Fire Station into 18 private flats, two of which had to be used for social housing.^[2][8][9] The social housing requirement was abandoned in 2020, and the building is now used for energy-efficient luxury flats.^[2][8] The price of the flats ranged from £750,000 to £1.7 million.^[8]