Clapham and The Grand: It was not till close to the tip of Might 1989 that I discovered time to return and take footage in south London. On Saturday twenty seventh Might I took the prepare to Clapham Junction and a bus up Lavender Hill to start my stroll in Clapham.
I took a few footage on the east finish of Lavender Hill and the beginning of Wandsworth Highway, not on-line, after which walked down North Avenue to make a few footage of the doorway to the Spiritualist Church and the outlets on both sides.
Strolling down the road took me the Outdated City, the place the sunshine was exhibiting the system on the home at No 12 right here with its proverb ‘CONTENTEMENT PASSE RICHESSE’, the motto of the Atkins-Bowyer household. Richard Bowyer (d1820) had taken on the identify when he inherited the Manor of Clapham from Sir Richard Atkins of Clapham. I’ve by no means fairly labored out what the reduction which is assumed to have come from the outdated Manor Home is supposed to depict.
My stroll continued alongside Clapham Widespread Northside, nevertheless it was far earlier than I made my subsequent image.
Maitland Home at 60 Clapham Widespread Northside dates from 1790-1792 and is Grade II listed. Based on the Survey of London it was one in every of a pair and “was constructed initially for one John Bleaden, however took its identify from its subsequent occupant, Ebenezer Maitland, a Coleman Avenue service provider, who lived right here from 1796 till his demise in 1834“. Maitland Home’s “distinctive entrance porch of Tuscan columns supporting a bowed first-floor window” in my footage seems to not have been part of the unique design however to have been added a number of years after the pair was constructed. The opposite half of the as soon as matching pair, Bell Home, was demolished within the Eighteen Nineties for the constructing of Taybridge Highway and changed by the present home at No 61, constructed together with No 59 in 1894-5.
I continued alongside Clapham Widespread Northside however made no extra footage there. My subsequent cease got here after I turned up Forthbridge Highway, one in every of streets constructed right here between 1890 and 1895 by builders John Cathles Hill and Charles J Bentley who purchased and demolished among the earlier massive indifferent homes.
These streets should not with out element of architectural curiosity however are comparatively commonplace late-Victorian two-storey homes. Nevertheless this explicit home at No 20 stood out for its later added elaborations, maybe not totally acceptable or consonant with the Victorian doorways with the leaf motif concrete blocks and moderately kitsch sculpture which occupied my subsequent three near-identical frames – solely one in every of which I’ve placed on line.
I continued strolling north, going up Nansen Highway and Stormont Highway to Lavender Hill after which strolling west, wanting down the varied turnings however not discovering a lot to excite my curiosity till
I got here to Sisters Ave.
I made an image of this row of three-story homes, nevertheless it was the extremely strong gate posts that held my curiosity – and which I’ve put this image on-line. I believe I noticed them as some big row of pawns on the chessboard of Clapham, or maybe some Maginot Line of soliders defending in opposition to marauders from Battersea, the place I used to be now heading.
I continued strolling down Lavender Hill and throughout the junction at The Falcon to St John’s Hill to {photograph} this constructing whereas the sunshine was proper. Designed by Ernest Woodrow and constructed for a gaggle led by well-known music corridor stars together with Dan Leno it opened in 1900 as The New Grand Theatre of Varieties with an enormous stage and room for an viewers of three,000.
It was a extremely profitable venue for a few years and in 1927 started to indicate movies in addition to stay selection exhibits as The Grand Theater. From 1950 to 1963 it was solely a cinema, and after it was purchased by Essoldo turned Essoldo Cinema. Essoldo opened it as a Bingo membership after closing it as a cinema and it continued below others as a bingo membership till 1979. It was Grade II listed in 1983.
In 1989 after I took this image it was nonetheless closed, however that 12 months it was purchased to be transformed to a stay music venue, opening in 1991 and shutting in 1997. Wetherspoons then needed to open it as a pub however have been refused a licence. Ultimately it was reopened as “an independently run venue which capabilities as a nightclub, stay music venue, theatre and occasion house.”
Conveniently the doorway to Clapham Junction was now reverse and it was time for me to take the prepare house. This was a moderately shorter stroll than most of my wanderings and I had made comparatively few footage, however I used to be to return the next day to proceed my pictures of the realm on my subsequent stroll.
Tags: 1989, Battersea, Cinema, Clapham, Clapham Widespread Northside, Clapham Junction, CONTENTEMENT PASSE RICHESSE, Forthbridge Rd, Lambeth, Lavender Hill, London, London Images, Maitland Home, music corridor, North St, peter Marshall, outlets, Sisters Avenue, Spiritualist Church entrance, St John’s Hill, The Grand Theatre, Wandsworth
You’ll be able to depart a response, or trackback from your individual website.
