Monday 3 March 2014

In pictures: London street scenes then and now

In pictures: London street scenes then and now


 1 - The Streetmuseum App 2.0 from the Museum of London gives the user a chance to explore how locations across the capital looked in times gone by. Hundreds of images are visible through the app, showcasing London's history, from the Great Fire of 1666 through to the Swinging Sixties.

Here: A street seller of sherbert and water is photographed on Cheapside in 1893, completely unaware of the camera. Paul Martin was the first photographer to roam around the streets of London with a disguised camera taking candid pictures such as this solely for the purpose of showing 'life as it is'.
Picture: Paul Martin

 2 - View of Duncannon Street near Charing Cross in 1902, decorated with bunting and banners for the coronation ceremony of Edward VII. There are pedestrians and vehicles in the foreground and the National Gallery is visible in the distance

 3 - George Davison Reid took this photo of Blackfriars station entrance from outside 179 Queen Victoria Street around 1930. The station was originally called St Paul's and was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1886. Above the station were the premises of Oppenheimer Son and Co Limited, which manufactured pharmaceutical specialities. The Times newspaper was also based here in Queen Victoria Street. A decade or so after Reid photographed this exterior, the station was bombed in the Blitz of 1940 and largely destroyed. The offices of The Times newspaper were also hit.
Picture: George Davison Reid


4 - A view of Bow Lane circa 1930, off Cheapside in the City of London, looking south to the crossing with Watling Street and St. Mary Aldermary in the middle distance. 'Ye Olde Watling' tavern was originally built just after the Great Fire of 1666. George Davison Reid supported the Society of Antiquaries of London, which promoted the study of London's architecture, and was interested in photographing older architecture and locations. He took this photo of Bow Lane in the late 1920s.
Picture: George Davison Reid

5 - A view of the forecourt of the Southern Railway's terminus at London Bridge circa 1930. This was the oldest railway terminus in London, having been built for the line linking London and Greenwich in 1836.
Picture: George Davison Reid

 6 - From the west side of Tower Bridge, George Davison Reid composed this photo looking out across the Upper Pool circa 1930. This image is atypical of Reid's work, being a posed shot. The children appeared in other photos at different riverside locations. It has been suggested that some of the girls could be Reid's daughters.
Picture: George Davison Reid

7 - Charing Cross Road is renowned for its specialist and second-hand bookshops. Wolf Suschitzky was attracted by the extensive array of second-hand bookshops and teahouses, and the crowds that flocked to them. The resulting series of photographs, circa 1935, are amongst Suschitzky's most acclaimed work.
Picture: Wolf Suschitzky/Museum of London

 8 - This photograph shows Byward Street near Tower Hill circa 1930, looking west with the church of All Hallows by the tower on the left and the former Mark Lane Underground station on the right. George Davison Reid photographed the streets and buildings of London and the activity in them in the 1920s and 1930s.
Picture: George Davison Reid

9 - Boy shining shoes outside the Tea Room at Victoria station in 1950. A group of porters can be seen with their trolleys waiting to help travellers with their luggage.
Picture: Henry Grant

10 - Piccadilly Circus, Coronation day, June 1953. Crowds gather to witness the Coronation procession of Elizabeth II. The coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, and at the Queen's request, the entire ceremony was televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated twenty million people.
Picture: Wolf Suschitzky/Museum of London 

 11 - People sunbathing in Hyde Park in 1956, with Marble Arch and the Odeon cinema in the background. The attendant is selling tickets for the deckchairs which are available for hire in the park. The Odeon which was originally a 'Regal' cinema, opened in 1928. The facade of the building was made from Portland Stone and featured columns and statues however in 1964 it was thought too small and the building was demolished and a larger cinema complex was built in its place.
Picture: Henry Grant

 12 - Oxford Street circa 1903. Horse-drawn Hansom cabs dominate the traffic.
Picture: Christina Broom

 13 - Street scene at Covent Garden circa 1930 with underground station and horse and cart in the background. George Davison Reid photographed activity in the marketplace from opposite Covent Garden Underground station on Long Acre. A police constable was often needed to control the congestion of the horses and carts and increasing numbers of motorised vehicles. The long established market place was under pressure to move. The congested facilities were described at the time as 'altogether inadequate to the necessities of the trade'. However, the fruit and vegetable market did not relocate until 1973.
Picture: George Davison reid

 14 - A night shot outside the Palace Theatre before an evening's performance in 1958. The Frankie Vaughan Season ran from 20 January to 16 February 1958 and included Vaughan as the headliner and artists such as Petula Clark, who was to sing her latest hits. Bob Collins created a number of night-time photographs playing with the bright lights of the West End to record people enjoying the buzz of fifties nightlife.
Picture: Bob Collins

 15 - The exterior of the completed Gloucester Road Station on the underground Metropolitan and District Railway, which was opened on 3rd October 1868. From a series of 64 photographs taken in the late 1860s by Henry Flather to document the construction of the railway from Paddington to Blackfriars via Kensington, Westminster and the new Victoria Embankment. Construction was by the 'cut-and-cover' method used to build the first underground railways before the development of the tunneling shield by James Henry Greathead . The first tunneled, or 'tube', railway in London was the City & South London Line, which opened in 1890.
Picture: Henry Flather


 16 - This 1957 photograph captures the view north up Brick Lane in Spitalfields, close to the markets. Some of the textile businesses can be seen. Bengali migrants began to arrive in the area from the late 1950s onwards.
Picture: Roger Mayne/Museum of London

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