View Full Version : Brixton: Then and Now - lots of updates!
I've spent the last two days working my shutter finger to the bone trying to bring you - my appreciative public - the latest batch of updates to the Brixton Then and Now section (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/pictures.html)
I hope you like them!
Check out:
Acre Lane by Branksome Road (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/acrelane2.html)
St John's School, Canterbury Rd/Cres (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/canterbury.html)
Brixton Road and Stockwell Road Brixton (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/brixtonroad7.html)
St Matthew's Church, Brixton (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/st_matthew.html)
Opening of Town Hall extension (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/townhall1.html)
Town Hall from Tate Gardens (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/townhall2.html)
Tate Library and Gardens (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/tate1.html)
I have to say that photographing around Tate Gardens is always an 'interesting' experience, with a never ending slew of drunks, nutters and ne'er do wells all lining up to offer an opinion/act weird/breathe alcoholic fumes all over you....
Terrific as ever. :)
You'll see your mistake in this:
" St Matthew's was one of four new Lambeth parish churches built in response to the growing population in the early 19th century - the others being St Matthew's (Brixton), St Luke's (Norwood) and St John's (Waterloo). Consecrated in 1824, the church featured an imposing facade created by the architect C.F.Porden."
The other is the Kennington one.
And this is incorrect because there was never a tower on the Electric Pavillon. That tower is the tower of the theatre entrance between the library and the Pavillion, which was destryed by a bomb in WW2 afew years later.
"14th Oct 1938 Crowds pack Acre Lane to see the arrival of Queen Mary for the opening ceremony of the Town Hall extension. A sign above the entrance reads, 'Lambeth Civic Week. Box Office 9am - 10pm'. To the far left you can see the tower of the Electric Pavilion (now Ritzy Cinema)".
Thanks boss. ;)
I'll be correcting the errors shortly (you won't believe how hard it is to make sure everything's right when you're working on it at 2am!).
And of course, I know all about the tower belonging to the Theatre - I've written enough stuff about it !
I just found this amazing picture of bomb damage to St Matthews:
http://tinyurl.com/pfkn
poster342002
02-10-2003, 11:10
I wonder if that's when St Matthews ceased functioning for good as a church?
That's not St Matthews Mike, the tower's at the wrong end. :)
Nice pic tho.
St Marks, St Mathews, what's the difference eh?!
I think I've been working on this Brixton stuff for too long (the Quin and Atkens 'then and now' shot took eight photos over three days to get right!)
Well it's much appreciated Mike. Those then and nows are fascinating and alot of people have commented enthusiastically on them.
:)
Mr Retro
02-10-2003, 11:41
These are the best part of the site besides the BB's.
Absolutely fantastic, worthy of exhibition space.
fucthest8
02-10-2003, 11:49
Originally posted by editor
St Matthew's Church, Brixton (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/st_matthew.html)
Doh! Wish I'd seen this before I posted my thread up .... and despite not being a resident of Brixton or knowing much about the history, the photos are all interesting in their own right - any Then and Now stuff always is. As ever, nice work Mike.
Great pictures, as ever.
"There still a funeral director in the area to, situated to the the right, just out of picture" (Acre Lane by Branksome Road)
This funeral director's has a morbid juxtaposition in the window display. On each side is a headstone, and in the middle a clock - until recently an incongruous digital display, ticking away the seconds........ "We know not the day nor the hour". Makes me smile every time I pass.
Acre Lane by Branksome Road (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/acrelane2.html)
Bloody hell! Look at the size of the pavement on the left hand side!
They had their priorities right back in the 1920s!
Originally posted by pooka
This funeral director's has a morbid juxtaposition in the window display. On each side is a headstone, and in the middle a clock - until recently an incongruous digital display, ticking away the seconds........ "We know not the day nor the hour". Makes me smile every time I pass. Cheers for that wee nugget of info: I've added it to the caption.
Minnie_the_Minx
02-10-2003, 16:33
pavements that wide nowadays they'd still be full of sandwich boards, advertising, lotto advertising, The Standard etc!
Have you not got any SW2 pictures. Most of your pictures are central Brixton. Can we have some Brixton Hill piccies please:)
Minnie_the_Minx
02-10-2003, 17:10
on the Corbis website.
pro.corbis.com/images/watermark/67/10033948/HU051752.jpg (http://pro.corbis.com/images/watermark/67/10033948/HU051752.jpg)
fantastic as ever Mike
:)
and well done for maintaining 'not getting run over' whilst taking the new shots.
lang rabbie
02-10-2003, 19:44
Thanks again for all your efforts, Mike
Can anyone remember when the fountain got introduced in Tate Gardens? Am I deluding myself that it predates Brixton Challenge?
The whole gardens would be transformed by a simple lick of paint in a consistent colour for the benches, railing and derelict loos.
Mrs Magpie
02-10-2003, 20:54
Something about St Marks......
A gibbet was found under the base of where St Marks is when it was built in 1820...after the Jacobite Rebellion, where the church is now was where the Jacobites were hanged, drawn and quartered, and their heads stuck on spikes........The fiancée of one of the Jacobites (James Dawson) died from the shock of witnessing the ghastly deed. The last execution in Kennington Park was of a forger in the early 19th century..................
Mrs Magpie
02-10-2003, 20:56
Originally posted by poster342002
I wonder if that's when St Matthews ceased functioning for good as a church?
It is still a church, and is still used for that purpose....the clubbing is a sideline.........
lang rabbie
02-10-2003, 21:32
can be found on the the Executions page on the Vauxhall Society website (http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Executions.html)
Originally posted by lang rabbie
Thanks again for all your efforts, Mike
Can anyone remember when the fountain got introduced in Tate Gardens? Am I deluding myself that it predates Brixton Challenge?
The whole gardens would be transformed by a simple lick of paint in a consistent colour for the benches, railing and derelict loos.
Don't worry too much about that Lang Rabbie. If (big if) things go according to plan Tate Gardens and Windrush Square will be remodelled into one "flagship public space" soon (the plans do seem quite good from what I've seen), in conjunction with Raleigh Hall opening as an international centre for black acheivement.
as others have said, these photos are worthy of exhibition space - that one of the bomb damage is an amazingly powerful image that reminds me of the photos taken of Coventry Cathedral after the bombs hit.
Thanks!! :)
lang rabbie
03-10-2003, 14:09
But for the next five or so years until someone
(i) gets a fundraising strategy together, and
(ii) raises the funds,
a lick of paint would be quite nice...
Rather a lot of public money has gone into these few hectares of central Brixton in the last twenty years
- relayout of the Tate Gardens sometime in the 80s (?)
- refurbishment of the old coach station as "Brixton Fashion"
- demolition of "Brixton Fashion" when it was found impossible to heat the work units during the winter,
(I can't remember which stage was funded by Brixton Challenge) ,
- purchase of the Garage site
- laying out of Windrush Square to the absurd pseudo-heritage design which deters all meaningful use.
- refurbishment of Raleigh Hall (part funded by English Heritage?)
What is a "flagship open space" for? I'm a great believer in the importance of good townscape, but I don't think that the designs seen so far are clear how the re-modelled space will be used.
I am particularly concerned if there is an attempt to siphon off neighbourhood renewal money (that is meant to benefit the worst off in society living in Coldharbour and Vassall wards) for a scheme that will mostly fill the pockets of construction companies, rather than providing useable and sustainable open spaces with facilities for childrens' play and youth work elsewhere in Brixton.
poster342002
03-10-2003, 14:15
Mrs Magpie,
It is still a church, and is still used for that purpose....the clubbing is a sideline.........
You're joking!?!?:D What an odd combination... that's the funniest thing I've heard for ages!
Has the vicar ever had to ask them to keep the noise down a bit?:D :p
At the moment Tate Gardens is an horrendous, piss filled, gnarly, unwelcoming space, serving only the local alcoholics and dodgy drug dealers who like to give it the usual "yo! yo! yo!" bullshit to anyone daring to walk through.
Whatever they do there, they're going to have to budget for some kind of park keeper/gardener/warden to look after it, else it'll quickly go back to square one.
poster342002
03-10-2003, 14:40
editor said:
Whatever they do there, they're going to have to budget for some kind of park keeper/gardener/warden to look after it
Preferably on a 24-hour basis. Otherwise the aforementioned crappiness in there will simply adopt a "night shift" system.:(
I finally managed to get this 'then and now' today - previous attempts have always been thwarted by dirty great big vans hogging the view!
Somerleyton Road 1912/2003 (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/somerleyton1.html)
(Talk about obsessed: I've done nearly 70 of these now!)
IntoStella
03-10-2003, 16:38
....Which richly illustrates that what happened to Somerleyton Road was unmitigated vandalism. Those responsible should have been locked up for it. :mad: :(
Not just public sector ones but private ones as well. Homogenous housing is just plain boring, often ugly, and actually destroys the variety that makes up a great community. Virtually all really fun areas have a good mix of new and old, different syles of building, different businesses, cheap and expensive rents. I can't think of a single area I've been to with a uniform building style that is fun to be around.
You should see what they wanted to do to Brixton - eek!
70s Brixton redevelopment plans (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/barrier1.html)
Ta for that - they were crazy weren't they?
Architects are just classic technocrats aren't they? They believe that they have the answers to everything, that the answers are technical and that large scale things are better than small scale things. The Dome is a classic example - quite pretty in many ways on the outside but horrible and unusable on the inside.... gimme a packed bar like Tongue & Groove for my entertainment anytime...
My prediction, for what it's worth, is that the large scale building the government are trying to do east of London will be a disaster for exactly this reason.
Minnie_the_Minx
06-10-2003, 12:22
ignore me then. Just 'cos I'm from the posh (SW2) end of Brixton:p
Originally posted by Minnie_the_Minx
Have you not got any SW2 pictures. Most of your pictures are central Brixton. Can we have some Brixton Hill piccies please:) Err, there's four sets already online, taken in and around Brixton Hill! (Blenheim Gdns, Lambert Road, Telegraph and White Horse )
Minnie_the_Minx
06-10-2003, 13:12
Brixton Hill covers a wide area you know:p
and I don't want pictures of that poncy posey White Horse which used to be my local before being overtaken and turned into a bar:(
Originally posted by Minnie_the_Minx
Brixton Hill covers a wide area you know Tell you what. You source the copyright-cleared 100 yr old images of Brixton Hill and I'll consider adding them to the collection.
Minnie_the_Minx
06-10-2003, 14:18
don't get narky.
I already nicked one from Corbis the other day and put it on this thread, the one of the zebra in Brixton
Expect me to do ALL your work:rolleyes:
Originally posted by Minnie_the_Minx
I already nicked one from Corbis the other day and put it on this thread, the one of the zebra in Brixton Much as I'd love to help myself to Corbis' lush collection of vintage shots, they're more than a tad litigious when to comes to copyright.
But I could use help sourcing images: taking each 'then and now' can take ages: I've got to find a good starting image, make sure that it's still possible to retake it from the same angle (and finding that is a monster job in itself!) and then research the thing.
Add to that the vagaries of bad weather, sun glare, 'chood filled yoot, inquisitive drunks, purloiners and the relentless thunder of traffic positioned where the camera should be and you'll understand that these shots are mo'fo's to take!
Minnie_the_Minx
06-10-2003, 14:40
Only joking! However, my boss is off tomorrow so if you tell me WHERE to look and I'll see if I can find anything. Might help cure my boredom and stop me annoying everyone here:D
Mind you, my boss might decide to stay 'til midnight tonight and leave me tonnes of work again:(
There's still a funeral directors in the area too, situated to the the right, just out of picture (the window display used to feature the morbid juxtaposition of a digital display ticking away the seconds, flanked by two headstones). (http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/acrelane2.html)
I'm pleased to report that the replacement clock, a kind of Argus plasticiced cheap wood mantle-clock affair, is running half an hour slow............
Top work Editor... I studied all 70 or so last night before going to sleep, and subsequently dreamt happily of days of yore.
Glad they're bringing back the tram.
The war account from the Streatham resident hit it home... how terrible it must have been to have lived through the Blitz.
Horrible.
http://www.lowerstreatham.org.uk/arc/geb/geb.html
corporate whore
29-10-2003, 09:50
Chilling reading there, pk
Think I'm right in that Streatham took a disproportionate amount of bombing due to its height (relevant to the rest of South London) and because it was the first placce many bombers saw when approaching from the south.
Indeed how horrible it must have been.
Longstone, Chillerton and Crowborough Roads are awful, there are about 30 houses either down or will have to come down.
It seems as though they try for the College and then go on to the Asylum.
This seems logical, in terms of airbourne raids.
In the 1940's there wouldn't have been the proliferation of housing estates between Croydon and Streatham as there is now, the merest slip that is Thornton Heath probably wouldn't have been spotted at night, so yeah, it would have been the first thing one would have seen after dropping down after Croydon - as you say, the hill would have given away the church steeples.
It just seems unimaginable.
I guess you forget how bad the southern suburbs got it, as well as the East End...
Originally posted by pk
I guess you forget how bad the southern suburbs got it, as well as the East End... Wandering a tad off topic, Cardiff got a fair hammering during the war, and my grandparent's house took a direct hit - but the bomb failed to explode!
It's all too easy to forget how people must have suffered then... (and - sadly- how many millions around the world are still suffering through conflict).
I agree with what the editor said (always a safe policy when posting here ) but I have a feeling last orders have been called on the TGDAG.
I'd like to know how the much trumpeted ASBOs will affect the Tate Gardens gatherings. These are being "rolled out" in some areas and I would imagine Lambeth wants to try them here; although I'd welcome anyone with better information telling us otherwise.
And if that area is indeed cleared of those people, who I Imagine stay in nearby hostels which have a dry policy, I'd like to know where they'll head. Brockwell Park?
What about the dealers and ASBOs? Are they even affected?
I am amazed the Ritzy Cinema management puts up with the Tate Gardens situation; it must be costing them business.
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