East End Photographs and Drawings

[Lechmere]

Grove Hall Lunatic Asylum, Fairfield Road, Bow. It was a grand country house on a terrace above and facing the River Lee. I think the house was 'reversed' with the front becoming the back when it became an asylum.

[Andrew Firth]

Took some friends around the east end last week, and visited Sidney Street, scene of the famous seige of 1911.

A photomontage of the place where Winston Churchill observed proceedings. (100 Sidney Street itself was across the road to the left of this view).


All the best
Andrew

[Archaic]

Thanks Archaic, that sublime photography is a great little link. Heres a great one from there of Cobb St.

Hi Warspite; you're very welcome.

Cobb Street looks rather ghostly, doesn't it? I'm trying to read the shop sign on the left. I think it says "Benching". I'm not familiar with that word here in the U.S. I thought at first it might refer to something like cobbler's bench-work or leather repair, but I looked it up and apparently it refers to the manufacture of benches (both wood & cement), work tables, etc. Hmm...I learn something new every day!

Hi Andrew, I'm enjoying your photo montages.

As I looked at your Sidney Street image it struck me how very lucky the world was that Winston Churchill wasn't shot that day during the gun-battle... without him, where would we all be now?

Best regards,
Archaic

PS:

A balloon's eye view of the Lusk house

Wow, "old school" 19th Century Google Maps!

[Archaic]

c. 1901 'Living London'

This photo is from George Sims' book 'Living London'. Many of you will have seen it before but perhaps some haven't.

It reminded me of the entrance to Miller's Court, with the passage way on the side. I was looking at this photo and wondering if McCarthy's shop similarly served out a window, either on the street or in the back?

Thanks,
Archaic

[Rob Clack]

I take it you didn't like my answer Bun?

Rob

[Archaic]

I take it you didn't like my answer Bun?
Rob

I always like your answers Rob, even when you point out why I'm wrong.

Couldn't McCarthy have sold out one of his shop windows even if his shop had a regular entrance on the street?

I picture him handing slices of pizza out the window to customers... cold pizza, of course, in keeping with the times.

Cheers,
B.

[Stephen Thomas]

And now for something completely different

A balloon's eye view of the Lusk house

Where the hell did that thing come from?

[Lechmere]

It's just the corner of a much bigger 1865 bird's eye view that I found in an archive while looking for something else.

[WARSPITE]

HiAndrew
Just got your book- superbly nostalgic. Particularly loved the photomontages of Winthrop St, The Roebuck ( I remember it well back in the 80s) and Swallow Gardens. Where is the photo from depicting the inside of Millers Crt? Absolutely mouthwatering! I will have many happy minutes in the future browsing your photos. Congratulations.
You should organise a night jaunt when your planning your next book; Id be happy to come along.
Pete

[Archaic]

Spitalfields Weaver & Example of Spitalfields Silk Brocade

Here's a nicely-detailed illustration from 1855 of a Spitalfields weaver at work. Note that she is working by the light of one of the large upper windows characteristic of the old houses there, many of which were designed with the needs of the local silk-weaving industry in mind.

This lovely piece of blue silk brocade was hand-woven in Spitalfields and exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exposition in 1861. The fact that it still looks fresh and bright after 150 years is proof of its high quality. Incredible that such intricate work was done with a combination of ambient light and candle-light.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Andrew Firth]

HiAndrew
Just got your book- superbly nostalgic. Particularly loved the photomontages of Winthrop St, The Roebuck ( I remember it well back in the 80s) and Swallow Gardens. Where is the photo from depicting the inside of Millers Crt? Absolutely mouthwatering! I will have many happy minutes in the future browsing your photos. Congratulations.
You should organise a night jaunt when your planning your next book; Id be happy to come along.
Pete

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your feedback on the book; I'm glad you like it. I only vaguely remember the Roebuck, having walked past it just once on New Years Eve 1993. Another pub lost forever sadly.

The next night jaunt may, or may not be part of next years London Job. But I'm sure we can arrange something before then. I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical from east end photography for a few months, now that I've completed the book. Shameless plug: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2437741

All the best
Andrew

[Lechmere]

I went in the Roebuck a couple of times - the last being in the early 1990s. It was very grotty, and I didn't appreciate its significance.
I was with a big group and we'd been in several other pubs on Whitechapel Road (Grave Maurice, Blind Beggar, London Hospital Tavern) and my only real memory is that the landlady got a call from one of the other landords as they had one of those local warning set ups as they thought we were up to no good.

[Archaic]

Picadilly Circus

I came across this mind-blowing photo of London last night. The colors are so vivid that at first glance the vehicles look like toys.

Gee, I wish real life looked like this... sort of like the Technicolor scenes in 'The Wizard of Oz'.

Modern life suddenly looks so drab.

Cheers,
Archaic

PS: Note the name on the marquee and all the cool neon advertising signs.

[The Grave Maurice]

Love that shot, Bun, thanks. As you know, the marquee refers to the movie, not the singer, so I suppose the photo was taken about 1963. I didn't see Piccadilly Circus until about a decade after that, but that's pretty much still how I see it in my mind's eye which, admittedly, is now becoming somewhat clouded with age.

[Archaic]

Hi Ken. How are you? Yeah, it's the famous Tony Richardson film that won a bunch of Academy Awards.

It's just a couple of years too early to be Tom Jones the singer on the marquee... the world was still young and innocent, and not yet ready for exposed chest hair.

But do you remember who wrote 'Tom Jones'? Henry Fielding, who with his brother John started London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners. I recently saw a movie about them called 'City Of Vice'. (It's on YouTube if anyone is interested.)

I think the only thing that could make this early 60's photo even better for me would be if the Beatles were in the picture, running to catch the double-decker bus in soon-to-be swinging London.

Cheers,
Archaic