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This project successfully funded on 19th September 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Bring Back Brentford's Landmark Tower!
Brentford, Greater London, United Kingdom
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First target reached!
Did you know the tower is home to a pair of nesting peregrine falcons? With your sup...
Aim
We need your help to save our unique landmark and secure the future of our museum. The time is now! Can you help us raise £15,000 by August?
The iconic Standpipe Tower at the London Museum of Water & Steam has stood tall over Brentford since 1867. At 210ft high, it’s the only surviving full-height standpipe tower in the world with its original pipework intact, and is beloved by all of West London.
But since 2019, this remarkable structure has been closed to the public, locked away because of internal decay and contamination. Now, we need your help to bring it back!
This is more than just restoring a building, it’s about unlocking a vital part of our history and reopening a unique visitor experience that will help sustain the Museum’s future.
All additional donations that surpass the £15,000 target will be used for the much-needed ongoing maintenance of this historic building, so that we can keep it open for many years to come!
Why It Matters
- World’s last tower of its kind – a stunning survivor of Victorian engineering and design.
- Spectacular views – from the top you can see the Thames, Kew Gardens, Canary Wharf, and even the Shard.
- Immersive heritage – the tower tells a crucial story about how London got its water in the 19th century.
Reopening it would not only transform our visitor experience, it would give us a new revenue stream essential to the Museum’s survival.
We've got an array of tower-themed rewards on offer - scroll down to pick yours!
What is the Standpipe Tower?
Standpipe towers were once a common striking architectural feature of early pioneering waterworks pumping station design. At least 17 were known to have been used in London alone during the 19th century and Kew’s was one of the three tallest ever built.
Built in 1867, the tower stands as a testament to an age when functional equipment didn’t compromise on beautiful design. The tower's architecture is inspired by Romanesque and Venetian styles of church towers typically found in Italy.
Inside, it houses five impressively large cast-iron pipes that extend up to 235 feet above sea level. Early steam engines pumped water in pulses, not with steady pressure. To regulate the flow, water was first pushed through the system of vertical pipes housed in the tower, which acted as a buffer, smoothing out the pressure before the water entered the mains. They also protected the engines from damage in emergencies, like a burst water main.
What needs to be done?
During the 2020/21 lockdowns the tower became infested with pigeons due to ill-fitting grilles on the lantern apertures. After several pandemic years, the problem has resulted in large amounts of corrosive and toxic guano, meaning that the interior of the tower is inaccessible without PPE.
Our aim to is to allow public access to the tower, so that visitors can climb to the top, which will form part of their Museum experience.
To do so:
We urgently need to humanely evict the pigeons, replace the grills on the apertures to make sure no new birds can come in and safely clean and disinfect the interior of a huge amount of guano deposit.
We also need to carry out repairs to the staircase and the handrails to ensure the interior is safe for visitors.
Funds raised will also go towards the ongoing maintenance of the Museum's historic buildings so that all areas of the site can remain open for public enjoyment.
How can you help?
To make the project happen we need £45,000. Thanks to a generous grant from The Association for Industrial Archaeology, we already have £30,000 secured – but we need your help to raise the remaining £15,000.
Even better: a private donor will match your donation up to the first £5,000, doubling your impact!
As a charity, we rely on the generosity of supporters who believe the UK's rich heritage is worth protecting. Reopening the tower will provide a vital new revenue stream for the Museum, which does not receive any government funding.
If you love Brentford, London history, or simply want to help keep a unique local museum alive and thriving – please donate today and help us reach our target and bring back the tower for all!
Rewards
As we are a small team we are unable to deliver all the physical rewards to home addresses. You will be able to pick up all physical rewards at the Museum after the end of the project. If you would like your reward delivered this will need to be arranged over email once the Crowdfunder is over and additional delivery costs will apply.
Friends of the London Museum of Water & Steam has provided £4,950 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made