Historical information

A Volunteer Fire Brigade was established in Kew in 1879 and a fire station established in Walton Street, Kew. The Brigade was formally disbanded by the Fire Brigade Act of 1890 and the volunteers replaced by a unit of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1891. The Walton Street fire station, built in 1893, was replaced by the Belford Road station in 1941 and subsequently demolished. The third fire station, located in Belford Road, was built by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) in 1941 and operated as a fire station until closing in 1993. Designed by architect Harry Winbush in 1940-41, the former MFB fire station at 35-37 Belford Road, Kew is of local historical and architectural significance. It is a good, representative and externally intact example of a large suburban fire station of the late interwar period. Now converted for residential use, Heritage Overlay HO274.

Physical description

Colourised photograph, front facade of former Metropolitan Fire Brigade station, Belford Road, Kew. Two-storey face red brick Modernist building, symmetrical facade, central projecting bay with raised lettering “METROPOLITAN FIRE BRIGADE”, flagpole and crest above, two engine bays at ground floor, fire truck visible in left bay.