The story
Founded by Gary Langan in 1989.1
The Power House was built in 1901 by a young architect William Curtis Green to power the trams of West London. It originally had a 260-ft. high steel smoke-stack. On the façade, are two large female figures that represent 'electricity' and 'locomotion'. This substantial building was conceived to be so large as to prevent any of the houses in the neighbourhood (which still tended to be large properties with influential owners) suffering from the vibration and dust caused by the steam powered generators.
Due to competition from Lots Road Power Station in Chelsea, power was only generated until 1920 when the building was decommissioned and stripped of its equipment. Being mainly used as a storage facility, the Power House gradually fell into disrepair.
Then in 1962 the trolley bus service was closed, the chimney was then demolished in 1966.
London Transport (by then the owners) decided to redevelop the site. This led to an outcry and the Victorian Society campaigned for the protection of the building from the developers, which in turn led to the building being listed in 1975, one of the first Victorian buildings to be so nominated, and the first that was built in the 20th century. In 1985, the upper part of the building was converted into flats, including a penthouse which is split over three levels.
In 1989, after a large scale redevelopment, the lower part of the building was converted into a recording studios, and the home of Metropolis Studios.
From Wikipedia’s article on Metropolis Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4