East End Photographs and Drawings

[Observer]

Right cheers John

Zoomed in and it looked a little strange

Observer

[John Bennett]

And now for something completely different....

How about these, folks.... they're all photos of photos, hence dodgy imagery in places.

St Mary's, Whitechapel, after the fire in 1880


Black Lion Yard, mid 1970s (I think I posted this before, but this one is better quality)


Brady Street Dwellings in 1976


Another view of Brady Street Dwellings in 1977


And a colour shot of Rothschild Buildings, with the arch in its original position on Thrawl St, c.1975. I think I posted a b&w photocopy of this a while back.


A couple more to come...

[Mike Covell]

Great photo's John, really nice. The pictures actually look ok.

[John Bennett]

Cheers Mike. Here's a couple more (you can tell where I've been today)

Wentworth Dwellings from New Goulston Street, 1986. This was how I remember them back then.


And from the rear, just about the backs of 108-119?

[Mike Covell]

The sky on the first pic looks strange! Nice pics though!

[m_w_r]

(you can tell where I've been today)

The past?

Mark

[John Bennett]

The past?

Mark

Yup. In the Stepney Green Time Machine.

[George Hutchinson]

Brilliant posts, John. Two favourites are the front of WMD and that stunning shot of the fire damage to the second St Mary Matfelon - to think, it was only a few years old at that stage. People must have been as gutted as the nave!

On the other side of the coin, what an amazing regeneration of WMD. It's like a mini-Board School renovation.

PHILIP

[Bulldog]

Swallow Gardens

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

Hi Rob,

I don't have any problem with the lower left photo being Abels Buildings, but to me the lower right image definitely looks like Swallow Gardens.

Here's the description of Swallow Gardens that appeared in the The Eastern Post & City Chronicle on Saturday, 14 February 1891 (the day after the murder):

‘The arch, which was the actual theatre of the crime, is about fifty yards in length, and while fairly lighted at each end by lamps, the centre remains in deep shade. It was in the centre, where the shadow lies deepest, that the deed was committed. One side of the archway is walled up by a hoarding, the space enclosed being used as a builder's store.’

I'm not sure what a 'hoarding' was, but the image clearly shows that one side of the archway was blocked off.

It's entirely possible that the lower left and lower right photos are not the same location. Any thoughts?

Best wishes,

Bulldog

PS - I really enjoyed the book you and Philip put out.

[The Grave Maurice]

Grave Maurice - I don't expect it is being reopened permanently, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.JB

Thank you, John. I obviously misconstrued the photo. I assumed that the workmen were there, at least in part, to re-open the alley. As I've said before, I last walked through Wood's Buildings in April 2004, and my heartbeat actually went up as I came over the bridge and saw the Board School looming (more or less) in front of me. I just hope that the same experience is not permanently lost to future Ripperologists.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Bulldog

I don't know if you went down there yourself, but Abel's Buildings still looks the same today in some respects. Half the arch being given over to temporary storage in 1888 doesn't mean it will be the same 46 years later. Abel's Buildings, on the other hand, is now permanently halved.

You do have a valid point, so I'm not dismissing it out of hand, but I would be more inclined to assume that Leeson's photographer had the wrong location - as did pretty much everyone until John Gordon Whitby!

PHILIP

[Rob Clack]

Hi Bulldog,

The bottom left photo is the top end of the bottom right photo, you can just make out the fencing at the end of the bottom right photo to compare it. Also the bottom right photo has two arches next to each other where Swallow Gardens has one. What Philip says is right. Abel's Buildings is still there and doesn't look much different now except the building on Chamber Street has been completely redeveloped and the hoarding along the alley is now a brick wall.
It's not uncommon for alleys to have hoardings this is Johnson Street about 1967 which has a similar hoarding to what Swallow Gardens would have had.



Rob

[Bulldog]

Hi Philip,

Yeah, I went down there the next day. It was cloudy and dreary, and looked like it might rain any moment. I found Swallow Gardens allright, but there was a white van parked in front of the roll-up door. I had hoped that the door might be open so I could take a quick look inside. No luck.

There was no one around - no one! Maybe one car came down Chamber Street all the time I was there. It was a wierd feeling being in a place that's so lonely and deserted while Mansell Street with its pedestrians and traffic is only a few hundred feet away.

I walked around the neighbouring streets for a while and then returned, hoping the van might have moved. It was still there.

Anyway, this is what I got for my efforts:


Bulldog

[Bulldog]

Hi Rob,

I'm sure that you are looking at larger and clearer images than I am, but I can't see any connection between the two photos.

The left photo does look like Abel Bldgs. with it's two arches, but the photo on the right sure looks like the shape and length of Swallow Gardens.

But, admittedly, the images I am looking at are small and grainy (below), and you're the local expert.

Regards,

Bulldog

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Bulldog. What Rob is saying is that the fence you can JUST see curving around to the left in the distance, beyond the archway in the photo on the right, is the very same fence filling up half the image in the photo on the left. Not only the angle, but the shades of the sheets of corrugated iron, their widths and the height of the planks above suggest the same to me.

Take some solace in the fact that you did at least get to the right place when you visited. There ain't many Ripper tourists who've managed that. There's always a van either in front or inside the lock-up and it's too dark in there to see anything of any note through the letterbox.

PHILIP