Gasholders – Atlas Obscura

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the area north of King’s Cross Station in London was a notable industrial zone. At the beginning of the 21st century, after industry had declined and property prices had risen, the area was targeted for redevelopment.

King’s Cross contained many historical industrial structures, some given listed status. And while many buildings could be straightforwardly refurbished, the former gasholders posed a unique problem. The four gasholders in King’s Cross, built in the 1860s, had iron frames that were listed structures and could not be demolished. The redevelopers had to figure out a way to incorporate these frames into the site—a process that would take almost two decades.

Architectural firm WilkinsonEyre won a design competition in 2002 to construct cylindrical apartment buildings within three of the gasholders. These structures would mirror the industrial telescoping gas tanks they were replacing, sharing a common cylindrical courtyard where the frames met. The fourth gasholder would become a park.

Before construction, the iron frames were dismantled and extensively restored. The apartment buildings were erected, and the frames were then reassembled around them.

Completed in 2018, the high-end apartments earned multiple architectural awards, standing out as a novel way to incorporate industrial structures of the past into urban spaces for today.