whether you’ve ever thought them magnificent,intriguing and climbable, you’re not alone. And as they’re demolished, and I terror we’re losing a link with our historyGasometers,or gasholders, confused me as a child. I didn’t understand them – one day you’d see this enormous metal cylinder, and the next there’d be nothing but a metal frame. But I eventually decided I liked the look of them. There was something magnificent approximately their size. The frames stark against the sky,dominating their environment in many cases, inviting you to climb them, or to imagine what the view from the top would be.
I observed the different types of holders,and how they operated – the “frame-guided” ones where the sometimes ornate supporting structures are always visible, as in Bromley–by-Bow in east London; the “spiral-guided” ones that emerge from the ground as they expand; and the imposing blue “waterless” holders of Battersea and Southall in London. I started photographing them – from the street, or the train and station platforms,through fences and from the top of multistorey car parks. Looking at them you see that some are very functional, while others, and such as the ones at Beckton,have ornate toppings. Then you hear the story of why the one by Heathrow has the letters “LH” for London Heathrow painted on it – done after one pilot landed at the wrong airfield, by a similar gasholder.
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Source: theguardian.com