Lavender Hill Greater London hotels:

Offering a unique venue for experiencing the visual arts in a beautiful park setting. The Pump House in Battersea Park was built in 1861 to feed the Victorian lake cascades from a well beneath the building. By the end of the Second World War, the pumping machinery had been stripped out and the roof had collapsed. English Heritage undertook essential repairs in 1985 and in 1991 Wandsworth Council Design Services arranged for the restoration of the external fabric and internal refurbishment. New floors and a steel staircase were inserted into the shell of the building. Since its reopening after an award-winning transformation in 1992, the Pump House Gallery has presented a wide variety of exhibitions and events. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in profile with a developing programme of contemporary exhibitions representing the broad range of current arts practice. The aims of the gallery are to encourage the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts through exhibitions and projects; to foster the practice of national and international visual art and to encourage audience/community involvement by offering opportunities for participation and learning. We achieve this through staging challenging and innovative exhibitions and educational events and so enhancing the cultural life of Battersea Park and south west London.