East End Photographs and Drawings

[Celesta]

John, Say Goodbye.... Those prints are charming, but it's sad, too, isn't it? And there's Black Lion Yard.

Rob, Nice pictures, but they seem older than they are. It's sad when pictures taken in my lifetime now look old to me! Sigh. Well, at least two of them predate me.

Thanks. Well done, guys. As usual!

Cel

[Mike Covell]

That book looks fantastic John, a real eye opener and the colour's are very rich!

[Celesta]

Take off the top two floors of the Rothschild courtyard print and it resembles the courtyard in the movie Rear Window!

[John Bennett]

A little snippet I found today whilst having a surf.

Toynbee Hall, 1935 - it's a gas attack exercise. The building on the left is the rear St. George's House, Gunthorpe Street. If the photographer had aimed a bit more to the left, we'd see the rear of George Yard Buildings.

[thomas]

robert leeson

re: robs post from the 14th of july

b. leeson from his biography

[Roma]

Nice shots, I've never seen then before and I wouldn't be reassured in such places ! Now I understand better why it was dangerous to walk there by night.

[George Hutchinson]

I'd be interested in discovering something here...

I have the Leeson book but I don't think it contains any illustration beyond his photograph in my edition.

Has Shovel Alley been lost, Rob, or is it now the passage we know as Abel's Buildings (that everyone until recently assumed was Swallow Gardens)? Likewise, though I haven't checked, the Swallow Gardens image looks remarkably similar to the one published in Sugden (1994) and myself and, I assume, everyone else had thought it was a recent erroneous image of Abel's Buildings taken for Sugden's book. Off the top of my head, isn't Leeson 1935?

I'm interested in finding out if the image bottom right is correct or not. If it was right all along, we should have used it in TLoJtRTaN!

PHILIP

[Bailey]

I'm interested in finding out if the image bottom right is correct or not. If it was right all along, we should have used it in TLoJtRTaN!

PHILIP

On the subject of your book, Philip, it finally arrived (well, the replacement they sent for the one that got lost in the post did, at least). I haven't read the text yet, but had a good browse through at the superb selection of pics. Very nice work indeed - my heartiest congrats to yourself and Rob. And the dedication to Dids was lovely, you big girly!

B.

[thomas]

I'd be interested in discovering something here...

I have the Leeson book but I don't think it contains any illustration beyond his photograph in my edition.

PHILIP

hi philip,

as it states on the title page: "with eighteen half-tone illustrations" and this is the amount which is in my edition, hand-dated "1934", but that could be wrong...

take care
thomas.

[Rob Clack]

My edition of Leeson's book only has his photo opposite the title page. I am aware of another edition published around the same time with photos in it (Stewart should me his copy). The top two photos, Shovel Alley I can't seem to pinpoint exactly but I believe it ran between Cable Street and Princes Square. North East Passage ran off Wellclose Square into Cable Street, both have long since gone covered by that ghastly estate on the South side of Cable Street. The bottom two photos are Abels Buildings which makes me think Leeson didn't take them himself as he most certainly would know where Swallow Gardens was. All four photos were published in 'Murder Most Foul #22.

Rob

[George Hutchinson]

Thanks, Thomas and Rob. I knew there were two editions of the Leeson and I had the second one, which explains the year difference and the lack of images. I remember discussing this on the phone with SPE once as well.

I'm relieved that the later photos are of Abel's Buildings after all. I clearly wasn't looking closely at the inscriptions; I was of the impression that the bottom right was purporting to be Shovel Alley ON Chamber Street. All is clear now.

PHILIP

[John Bennett]

Woods Buildings, 8th August 2008

Thanks to a couple of builders ("I'm not saying anything, mate, be my guest"), I managed a rare visit to everybody's favourite alleyway today.

Not the best snaps in the world, but it was good to be back....




JB

[The Grave Maurice]

This is good news, John. I was beginning to think that it would be closed forever.

[Observer]

Hi John, second photograph, is that someone standing in the alley? Iv'e zoomed in and still can't decide.

all the best

Observer

[John Bennett]

Just to clarify things a little....

Grave Maurice - I don't expect it is being reopened permanently, so I wouldn't get your hopes up. There is obviously some building work going on and I guess it was unlocked so the workmen could gain access and do their stuff. Two guys were shovelling rubble into a truck at the Winthrop Street end.

Observer - that probably is somebody, or at least at the Whitechapel Road entrance.
When I investigated that side, a man was standing by the open metal door, but I couldn't gain access as there was a row going on in front of him (between a bloke and a DVD seller). The door was shut straight after.

JB