Nine Elms was formerly mainly industrial but is now becoming more residential and commercial in character. In the area is the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
Nine Elms Lane was named around the year 1645, from a row of elm trees bordering the road, though a path probably existed between York House and Vauxhall from the 1200s. In 1838, at the time of construction of the London and Southampton Railway, the area was described as “a low swampy district occasionally overflowed by the River Thames [whose] osier beds, pollards and windmille and the river give it a Dutch effect”.
Nine Elms railway station opened on 21 May 1838 as the first London terminus of the London & South Western Railway. The neo-classical building was designed by Sir William Tite. The station was connected to points between Vauxhall and London Bridge by Thames steam boats. It closed in 1848 when the railway was extended via the Nine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct to a new terminus at Waterloo. The redundant station and the adjacent area, to the north of the new main line, became the LSWR’s carriage and wagon works and main locomotive works until their relocation to Eastleigh in 1909.
The company’s largest locomotive depot was located on the south side of the main line. The buildings were damaged by bombs in World War II, and closed in 1967. They were demolished in 1968 and replaced by the flower section of the New Covent Garden Market.
Gasworks were established in 1853, close to the existing waterworks of the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company. Later Battersea Power Station was built on the site.
Vauxhall Motors was formed in 1857 by Scottish engineer Alexander Wilson at Nine Elms, originally as Alex Wilson and Company, before moving to Luton in 1907. There was a plaque commemorating the site of the original factory at the Sainsbury’s Nine Elms petrol station on Wandsworth Road which has now been demolished and replaced with a new Sainsbury’s superstore and high rise apartments as part of the current Nine Elms regeneration.
Nine Elms is served by the Northern line as part of a two-station extension from Kennington to serve the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station. It serves as the intermediate for the new branch and the station is the nearest station to the New Covent Garden Market.
The station was given the final approval by the Secretary of State for Transport in November 2014.
Construction began in 2015. In mid-February 2017 the two large tunnel boring machines were delivered to the Battersea construction site, and lowered to tunnel level by a large crane. The boring machines were named Helen and Amy following a competition amongst local school children. The station was designed and built by Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke.
Nine Elms has been covered extensively by the UCL Barlett project.
