It's not protected by listing, nor is it part of a conservation area.

Yet 133 London Road is of unique interest as the last on-street memento of Kingston's tramway system, and conservationists have long feared for its survival.

Now they have been heartened by a proposal by Paul Brookes' Architects to convert the building into flats, while retaining all the original structure except its timber roof.

The project, which has been submitted for planning consent, has been welcomed by the Kingston Society.

"We applaud this innovative way of preserving an industrial heritage feature in Kingston, particularly as it allows for the reinstatement of the original full height windows, which have been blocked with advertising panels since the tram system closed," said chairman Tony Leitch.

The building, now empty after years as a business showroom, opened as a purpose-built transformer house for Kingston's tramways system.

Carved into its moulded plasterwork is the date March 1906, when trams were launched in the Royal borough.

The role of the transformer house was to feed electricity into the overhead cables which powered both trams and the trolley buses which succeeded them in 1931.

Trolleys were themselves later displaced by diesel-powered buses.

The last scheduled trolley bus ran through Kingston in May 1968, and 133 London Road had to begin a new career.