Jump to content
 

East End London in Colour


Hroth
 Share

Recommended Posts

Can't get down to the Smoke to see the exhibition, but I got a copy of the book.

 

So many townscape ideas!

 

The last photo you posted is fascinating, not just for the rail blue stock passing above, but the street in general too.  I like the improvised sunroof on the Austin Maxi!  (What do you mean, its just sheets of hardboard on a roofrack....)

 

Guessing at the other two cars in the forefront of the pic, I'd say the lime green one with the alloys is a Cortina, and the grey one a Capri.

 

Just had another look at that last pic, it just clicked that the Cortina is wearing Rostyle steel wheels that were meant to give the impression of alloys.  We used to call them "nostyles"...

Edited by Hroth
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, Mk.1 Cortina (1962-4, pre-Aeroflow) and Capri, but in the picture above there's one of the rarer Classic based Ford Capris from 1961-4. I do remember the modern Truman's Brewery buildings (long-demolished now, of course, though part of the older building survived). Where have all the thousands of Mk.II Cortina estates gone, eh?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Going to visit this exhibition next week - I work on the DLR with guys who live locally and constantly talk about the East End and it is difficult not to be wooed by the area especially when it so apparent how quickly it has / is turning into a completely different environment. I also worked with several men who tumbled straight out of the London Docks into railway employment (largely due to their experience with cranes & slinging) and was always fascinated by their stories. That picture of KGV full of ships - amazing !!

Edited by Southernman46
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Or even Dan Cruickshank

With acknowledgements to my friend The Gentle Author.

Sorry for only being able to provide B & W.

Bernard

attachicon.gifSPIT1.jpg

attachicon.gifSPIT2.jpg

attachicon.gifSPIT3.jpg

Bernard, thanks a million for posting those wonderful photos, both Mr Cruickshank's, and Mr. Granick's. Thanks also for the exhibition report - your shots are great - I must try to get down there before it closes.

 

I've always been a fan of Dan (!) - right back to the days recorded in those shots. I don't know whether I misremember this, but I'm sure I first heard about him because of the 144 Piccadilly business  - 1968/9? Anyway, ages ago. Been reading his Spitalfields book recently and about a fortnight later discovered Mr. Granick's wonderful Kodachromes. 

 

I'm still kicking myself over not getting more shots of London in the 70s - 5 or 6 of us, mostly rabid steam fans and photographers, lived in a flat round the corner from Portobello Road. There was a stone sink half way up the stairs which was used as a darkroom on occasion. Sammy the landlord, one of the Windrush generation, sold the house for about £10k in 1972. Even then the odd Ferrari was moving in. 

 

We did manage some photo trips in between work and girl/steam chasing - a few round Ladbroke Grove etc., just one to the Isle of Dogs, can't remember the others. I will have a word with two of the chaps on Thursday, one of whom has scanned thousands of his Kodachromes including London's railways. His shots always knock mine into the long grass. Another of the chaps has dropped off our radar, but as he used to work somewhere near Broad Street and sometimes took his camera in, he must have some good shots.  

 

Anyway, thanks to everybody who's posted on this subject. Really, one of the most interesting reads on RMWeb for ages. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Bernard, thanks a million for posting those wonderful photos, both Mr Cruickshank's, and Mr. Granick's. Thanks also for the exhibition report - your shots are great - I must try to get down there before it closes.

 

I've always been a fan of Dan (!) - right back to the days recorded in those shots. I don't know whether I misremember this, but I'm sure I first heard about him because of the 144 Piccadilly business  - 1968/9? Anyway, ages ago. Been reading his Spitalfields book recently and about a fortnight later discovered Mr. Granick's wonderful Kodachromes. 

 

I'm still kicking myself over not getting more shots of London in the 70s - 5 or 6 of us, mostly rabid steam fans and photographers, lived in a flat round the corner from Portobello Road. There was a stone sink half way up the stairs which was used as a darkroom on occasion. Sammy the landlord, one of the Windrush generation, sold the house for about £10k in 1972. Even then the odd Ferrari was moving in. 

 

 

 

Many thanks for your kind comments. A response like yours makes posting worthwhile.

Funnily enough I had lunch in St Botolph's Hall the other day. It is now a rather smart restaurant.

Regarding the book. It is designed and edited by Friederike Huber who has also done the work on a book that I am associated with East End Vernacular about artists who painted in east London. 

Dan Cruikshank was involved with Tredegar Square back in the 1970s when nobody wanted to live there.

I took a walking tour round that area last year and showed them terrace houses that would set you back around £1.8 m and then showed them Tredegar Square and said welcome to the poor East End.

If you search for Dan Cruickshank and Tredegar square it should produce some of his early photographs that are in stark contrast to the one I attach. 

Photos of a terrace in Bow and the square. 

Bernard

post-149-0-05956800-1524595671.jpg

post-149-0-64422500-1524595689.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

That's an impressive white building - it'd make a great model. Is it Georgian neoclassical? The tall column capitals are rather Ionic but the smaller ground floor ones look Doric.

 

G.

Link to post
Share on other sites

That's an impressive white building - it'd make a great model. Is it Georgian neoclassical? The tall column capitals are rather Ionic but the smaller ground floor ones look Doric.

 

G.

 

Built around 1837.

Even before WW11 it was becoming run down and after the war with a lot of bomb damage it went into decline and by 1970 was occupied by squatters.

In a 1970 photo it is almost black with many windows broken.

After a preservation group was formed things improved. It came so near to being lost.

There are some surprising buildings in East London.

Bernard

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Built around 1837.

 

The year Victoria came to the throne (a little after the Regency period) I think. Various architectural styles in fashion although it looks like a throwback to a neoclassical style or maybe Palladian rather than Victorian. But interesting nonetheless.

 

G

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
Guest Jack Benson

Another endorsement for this exceptional book, although our chosen flavour is early 50s Southampton, the street scenes are similar and the colour brings the scene to life.

 

Thanks and Stay Safe

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would also recommend viewing Lloyd Wellam's (Baby Deltic on here) interpretation of London's run down and poorer areas as depicted on his very nostalgic Sumatra Road layout, formerly known as Harford Street. He hasn't exhibited it for a few years but I have had the pleasure of operating it, and whilst doing that gazing at the magnificent detail realism that has been created. The railway detail is good but the buildings and portrayal of neglect in the buildings is most lifelike. I was born in that area so I knew no different but some people are quite taken aback when I show them pictures of 'my manor' of the 1950's. People just got on with life and were always very friendly, and still were when I used to visit regularly in the 1960's. Even when my parents moved back to West Hampstead, which was deemed to be the 'posher' side of London, the flats where we lived were in a pretty bad state..................and yes they are still standing, have been extended and are now worth a mint!

I still go back to my old haunts every couple of years but now nobody really speaks and don't seem to be too concerned about the history of where they live......................quite depressing really.

Anyway I have just ordered East End in Colour Vol 1 and am looking forward to another trip down memory lane!

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...