In 1955, the Tate Gallery was completely independent from the National Gallery and has become one of the 19 national museums funded by the British Government through the British Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports. The Tate Gallery has grown into four art galleries: the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern in London, the Tate Liverpool Art Gallery and the Tate St. Ivers Museum. The Tate Gallery will continue to focus on, develop and provide public access to the public and the international collection of modern and contemporary art.The Tate Gallery is the National Museum of Britain and is known for its British paintings and modern art from the 15th century to the present. In 2000, the Tate Gallery split its collection and set up four museums: the Tate Britain Art Gallery (at the original site of the Tate Gallery) to showcase British art collections from 1500 to the present.

The Tate Gallery, famous for its British paintings and modern art from the 15th century, dates back to the founding of the Tate Gallery in 1897 by Sir Henry Tate, then known as the National Museum of British Art. In 1917, the Tate Gallery, which had always been dedicated to the art of the country, was ordered to begin collecting world modern art. In the 1980s, the Old Tate Gallery decided to set up another art gallery dedicated to the collection and exhibition of modern art in the 20th century. It is the Tate Modern Art Museum.

The future of the redundant power station was uncertain following closure in 1981. Bankside was too new for official listing as a building of architectural or historical importance despite the precedent set in 1980 when Battersea power station was listed. In 1988 the Department of the Environment adopted the 30-year rule for newer buildings, but Bankside was not included because following privatisation of the electricity industry the site 'had been given to Nuclear Electric as an asset to exploit'. 57 Listing would have constrained the uses to which the building could be put. The campaigns to have the building protected exemplify the change in attitude to industrial architecture that had occurred since the 1940s. Scott's cathedral of power was now seen as of major architectural importance. What was fought against so strongly on amenity and visual grounds was now regarded as something to be preserved. The new debate was about how the building could be saved and reused.

After a decade of uncertainty the Tate Gallery acquired Bankside power station in 1994 to house a collection of modern art. The development of Tate Modern is in keeping with government policy on regeneration: the reuse of old buildings is important for the revitalisation of urban areas. 58 Tate Modern opened in May 2000 and brought an economic benefit of 100 million and about 3,000 new jobs to a relatively poor London borough. 59 In 2009 it attracted 4.74 million visitors. Tourists are also drawn to the area by the neighbouring Shakespeare's Globe and the Millennium Bridge. Although these projects are independent of the development of Tate Modern it is also true that 'much of what has been possible has been a by-product of the Tate's decision to locate in the former power station'. 60 The Millennium Bridge now physically links the old power station to St Paul's cathedral which the critics of the 1940s had wished to separate as far as possible. 

The iconic power station, built in two phases between 1947 and 1963, was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It consisted of a stunning turbine hall, 35 metres high and 152 metres long, with the boiler house alongside it and a single central chimney. However, apart from a remaining operational London Electricity sub-station the site had been redundant since 1981.

In 1996 the design plans were unveiled and, following a £12 million grant from the English Partnerships regeneration agency, the site was purchased and work began. The huge machinery was removed and the building was stripped back to its original steel structure and brickwork. The turbine hall became a dramatic entrance and display area and the boiler house became the galleries. Since it opened in May 2000, more than 40 million people have visited Tate Modern. It is one of the UK's top three tourist attractions and generates an estimated £100 million in economic benefits to London annually. In 2009 Tate embarked on a major project to develop Tate Modern. Working again with Herzog & de Meuron, the transformed Tate Modern will make use of the power station's spectacular redundant oil tanks, increase gallery space and provide much improved visitor facilities.