Twentieth Century and Beyond

The change to a cleaner and less heavy industry that reflected London’s transition to a predominantly commercial centre was witnessed during the twentieth century. In Lambeth this was marked by the displacement of heavy, polluting industries and the gradual introduction of office developments. By the time of the 1939-45 war, few industries remained along the river, and even fewer survived the intensive destruction of the Blitz.

Bomb damage map, London County Council
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002

Waterloo Bridge, rebuilt during the war, looking towards the South Bank, 1944
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002

The war-devastated industrial land on the South Bank, which had been newly acquired by the London County Council (LCC), was chosen as the site to celebrate Britain’s post-war rejuvenation, embodied in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The South Bank was designated as one of the first Comprehensive Redevelopment Areas in the country, and the area became one large building site encompassing Lambeth Marsh on the river side of the railway.

South Bank under construction, looking towards Waterloo Bridge with the Oxo Tower and St Paul's in the distance, 1964
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002

The first scheme for the area was put forward in 1943 and combined offices, shops, theatre, leisure facilities and open space. This plan was later revised, and in 1948 a new scheme was commissioned from Charles Holden by the LCC which proposed a national theatre and a concert hall to be situated between Hungerford and Waterloo Bridges. The Holden Plan was upstaged by a decision to hold the Festival of Britain on the South Bank. The leader of the LCC, Isaac Hayward, agreed to make the whole area covered by the Holden Plan available for the main site of the festival, and to contribute one permanent building: the Royal Festival Hall.

After the Festival, the belief that the Royal Festival Hall should not be rivalled by an equally formal building directly next to it, as envisaged in the Holden Plan, began to emerge. It was therefore decided that the national theatre should be built further upstream, on a site located on the other side of Waterloo Bridge.

Site of National Theatre looking towards Somerset House, 1969

The National Theatre, completed in 1976, quickly became a landmark in its own right, embedded in the nation’s consciousness, which was shown recently in a poll when the building was voted among the nation’s top ten most loved and most hated buildings.

For many people the site still symbolises hopes for a rejuvenated London and a better future; ideas expressed so successfully in the buildings and activities of the Festival of Britain. Encompassing national centres for art and culture, the South Bank is now one of London’s most exciting places and a thriving centre of urban regeneration, thus fulfilling the post-war vision.