August 1989 | Re-photo

Posts Tagged ‘August 1989’

Charterhouse, A Diary, School, Church & Houses

Thursday, February 29th, 2024

Charterhouse, A Diary, School, Church & Houses continues my walk on Friday 4th August 1989 in Battersea from the previous post, St Peter & St Paul, Candles, A Pub & Distillery. My walk began with Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie.

*Charterhouse Works, Eltringham St, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-65*

I turned south from York Road into Petergate and turned int Eltringham Street where I think I took this picture of the Charterhouse Works. It’s hard to read the peeling paint of the notice on the side, but I think these were once the works of Sandle Brothers, Manufacturing Stationers, Wholesale & Export with City Offices & Showroom at 4 Snow Hill EC4. You can see more about them on Spitalfields Life.

There appears to be a very long list of current occupants on the front of the building and on the full size image I can make out some of the names of what appear to be small businesses with workshops or offices in the building.

I think this is now the site of Charterhouse Appartments at 21 Eltringham St, a large modern block.

*Nicholson & Co, 115, 119, Plough Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-52*

I made my way through the back streets to Plough Road, probably going along the footpath beside the railway line, Tours Passage. On the way I passed a heap of black sacks of rubbish with horse that had come from a fair roundabout, which I photographed but have not yet digitised.

Going under a railway bridge and walking down the road took me opposite the works of Nicholson & Co Ltd at 115-7 Plough Road, Heating – Ventilating – Air Conditioning Engineers established in 1904. Next door at 119 is a rather more ornate building with the date 1902 in its gable. The 2013 Survey of London tells me this was a former diary “designed by William Clinch Poole for the Dairy Supply Company Ltd.”

*Plough Road School, Plough Terrace, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-53*

Plough Road School is Grade II listed as Highview Primary School and was built in 1889-90 (the date 1890 appears on it though not in my picture) designed for the London School Board by its architect T J Bailey who was proud of his work and exbibted the designs at the Royal Academy in 1891.

My view is of the back of the building, probably because much of the rest was covered by scaffolding when I made it, but perhaps becuase I thought the architectural influence was more evident. At the right of my picture is a little of the schoolkeeper’s house built at the same time.

St Pauls, Church, Community Centre, Vardens Rd, St John's Hill, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-54 — *St Pauls, Church, Community Centre, Vardens Rd, St John’s Hill, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-54*

At the bottom of Plough Road I turned right into St John’s Hill and took this picture of St Paul’s Church from the corner of Vardens Road, I think to contrast the slender spire with the pillars of the corner doorway of 129 St John’s Hill. This block, shops with flats above has a rather more delicate entrance to the flats, Harvard Mansions, on Vardens Road. Those pillars seemed unusual in that they clearly were not supporting anything – with a top looking like a chimney. The block was built in the late 1890s in an Arts and Crafts style.

Although this is on St John’s Hill it was built in 1868 as St Paul’s church, as a part of the parish of St John’s Battersea which was on Usk Road. It was needed to accommodate the growing number of worshippers in the area which was beginning to expand rapidly. Later numbers fell and St John’s closed in 1950. This church became part of the parish of St. Peter & St Paul Battersea. Chad Varah who founded the Samaritans was its vicar from 1949-53.

Designed by H E Coe this Victorian Gothic church was build in a Decorated style using Kentish ragstone. Despite some on-line statements it appears to be only locally listed. When I made this picture it was in use as a community centre for the local residents association and as a nursery and it seems only to have been formally de-consecrated in 2013 to allow parts to be converted to flats.

*Houses, 13-17, Spencer Rd, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-55*

I walked west to the next turning on St John’s Hill and went down Spencer Road where a short distance down I found these splendid Victorian villas. Much of the housing in the road is interesting but I was particularly interested in these for their combination of Victorian Gothic and Dutch gables.

Spencer Road presumably gets its name from the various Spencers who were Lords of the Manor in this area. The street was laid out before 1871 but was developed piecemeal and these houses are I think probably a little later.

This walk will conclude in a later post.

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Tags:115, 119, 1989, August 1989, Battersea, Charterhouse Appartments, Charterhouse Works, church, community centre, Dairy Supply Company Ltd, diary, Eltringham St, Harvard Mansions, Highview Primary School, London, London Photos, Manufacturing Stationers, Nicholson & Co, peter Marshall, Plough Rd, Plough Road School, Plough Terrace, Sandle Brothers, St John's Hill, St Paul's, Vardens Rd, Wandsworth
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St Peter & St Paul, Candles, A Pub & Distillery

Monday, February 26th, 2024

St Peter & St Paul, Candles, A Pub & Distillery continues my walk on Friday 4th August 1989 in Battersea from the previous post, River Thames, St Mary’s, Church Rd, Chelsea Harbour & A Bridge. The walk began with Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie.

St Peter & St Paul, Church, l21, Plough Road, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-74 — *St Peter & St Paul, Church, 121, Plough Road, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-74*

I left the riverside and walked down Lombard Road and crossed York Road into York Gardens probably to find a pleasant spot to rest a while and eat my sandwiches before going through the gardens to exit on Plough Road close to the church.

St Peter’s Church is still very much alive now on Plough Road, but SPB looks very different to my picture in 1989. The first St Peter’s Battersea was built in 1875 but was seriously damaged by fire in 1970 and the church moved into the building in my picture which had been its church and school hall.

According to ‘Clapham Junction Insider’ Cyril Ritchert, the demolition of this Grade II listed building, “an accomplished example of the free gothic style“, was opposed by the Ancient Monuments Society, English Heritage, the Battersea Society and the Wandsworth Society but was approved by Wandsworth Council in 2010. The developers made a second application in 2015 before any building on the site had started. Google Street View shows the church still in use in 2012.

To finance the new church the developers had been granted permission for an 8 storey block of flats also on the site. Local residents were angered that the developers managed to game the planning system to eventually build a 10 storey block of housing with minimal affordable housing on the site.

*Shop, St Peter & St Paul, Church, Flats, Holgate Ave, Plough Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989*

The view of the church from Holgate Avenue shows clearly the position of the church on the edge of the Winstanley Estate to the north of Clapham Junction station. The view of the tower block Sporle Court is now blocked by the new 10 storey block on the church site. The trees at left are in York Gardens.

There is still a billboard and a shop on the corner of Holgate Avenue, but what was then BRITCHOICE is now SUNRISER EXPRESS POLSKI SKLEP. Holgate Avenue was until 1931 known as Brittania Place or Brittania Street and took its name from the Brittania beer house which was possibly in this shop, part of a group of two buildings at 38-40 Plough Lane which are the only remnants of the original 1860s development of the area.

Apparently the Revd Chad Varah, the founder of The Samaritans, was vicar at Saint Peter’s during the 1950’s. St Peter’s was amalgamated with St Paul’s at some time after 1969 – and St Paul’s had been amalgamated with St John in Usk Road in 1938.

*Houses, Holgate Avenue, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-75*

According to the Survey of London, “Holgate Avenue, started in the 1920s, was Battersea’s first
successful slum-clearance scheme.” Poorly built Victorian houses from the 1860s were replaced by these three-storey tenements built by Battersea’s Labour Council in 1924-37 to high standards with some impressive brickwork and detailing. Probably more importantly for the residents they were provided with electric cooking, heating and lighting facilities, unusual luxury for the time.

There was little land in Battersea for building and while the council would have liked to build single family homes it had to compromise with these. But at least tenants at most had only to walk up three flights of stairs, while most new council building by the LCC in the interwar period was in five-storey tenement walk-up blocks.

Price's Candles, York Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-62 — *Price’s Candles, York Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-62*

I walked back up Plough Road to York Road, and continued my walk towards Wandsworth Bridge. There was no access to the River Thames on this stretch before the bridge, as the area was still occupied by industrial premises.

Price’s Candles on York Rd was built on part of the site of York House, the London residence of the Archbishop of York from which York Road got its name. You can read more than you will ever want to know about York House in All about Battersea, by Henry S Simmonds published in 1882 and now on Project Gutenberg, which also has a long section on the Belmont Works or Price’s Patent Candle Factory.

Price’s Candles was begun in 1830 by William Wilson and Benjamin Lancaster who had purchased a patent for the separation of coconut fats. They chose the name Price for the business to remain anonymous as candle-making was not at the time a respectable occupation.

They moved to this site in 1847 setting up a large factory and workforce, making candles, soap and other products with stearine wax for the candles and the by products of glycerine and light oils coming cocunuts grown on a plantation they bought in Ceylon. In 1854 they began to import large quantities of crude petroleum from Burma and developed paraffin wax candles. Later they developed processes to work with other industrial wastes, animal fats and fish oils. By 1900 they were the largest candle manufacturer in the world.

The company was taken over by Unilever in 1919, and became owned by other oil companies including BP, who sold part of the site which opened in 1959 as the Battersea Heliport. A few of Price’s buildings remain, though most with added floors, and the rest of the site is mostly new blocks of flats.

*York Tavern, pub, 347, York Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-63*

The York Tavern was on the corner of York Road and Usk Road in the late 1850s but was given a makeover later in the century in the typical 1890s Queen Anne style with fake gable facades. I can’t find a date for the closing of this pub but it was clearly very shut when I made this picture. The building was demolished in 2003.

*John Watney & Co Ltd, Wandsworth Distillery, York Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8c-64*

Wandsworth Distillery on York Rd was founded by Richard Bush at Gargoyle Wharf around 1780. By 1874 it was owned by John and Daniel Watney. Gin was produced here, having become popular after heavy taxes were imposed on French brandy, and later particularly in the colonies to counteract the unpleasantly bitter taste of the anti-malarial quinine.

Acquired by Guinness, the distillery was demolished in 1992, and I photographed its occupation as the ‘Pure Genius Eco Village‘ by The Land is Ours in 1996. It was redeveloped as Battersea Reach housing from 2002 on.

River Thames, St Mary’s, Church Rd, Chelsea Harbour & A Bridge

Friday, February 23rd, 2024

River Thames, St Mary’s, Church Rd, Chelsea Harbour & A Bridge continues my walk on Friday 4th August 1989 in Battersea from the previous post, Battersea Park, Flour Mill and Somerset Estate. The walk began with Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie.

*House boats, Mooring, River Thames, Chelsea Wharf, Kensington & Chelsea, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-35*

The churchyard of St Mary’s Church is on the riverside and back in 1989 was the first place I could access the river in Battersea upstream of Battersea Bridge. The churchyard was closed for public burials in 1854.

The moorings here look rather crowded. At Spring Tides the river comes into the churchyard at high tide and I think people living on the houseboats here would need wellingtons, but the tide was low when I made this picture. On the west side of the churchyard is a slipway and past that was Church Wharf, part of Battersea Wharf. Immediately on the corner of the slipway until fairly recently was the Old Swan pub. Once a solid Victorian building it had been replaced in the 1960s by a strange building with much wooden planking and large windows which had become a punk venue in the 70s before closing, being squatted, and becoming derelict and then perhaps conveniently burning down. The block of expensive riverside flats which replaced the pub is named Old Swan Wharf.

St Mary's, Church, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-21 — *St Mary’s, Church, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-21*

St Mary’s Church is a real gem, Grade I listed, built in 1775-77, architect Joseph Discon, though the painted glass in its East Window is said to date from 1631, attributed to Bernard van Linge and transferred from the previous church building on this site. The stonework around this window is even older, dating from 1379 when the church was owned by Westminster Abbey and they sent one of their masons over for the job.

Bomb damage in the 1940s gave the then vicar the chance to smash some of the “very bad Victorian stained glass” which made the interior gloomy and there are now four modern stained glass windows. One commemorates William Blake who was married here in 1842 and another J M W Turner who was rowed across from his Chelsea house each day and sat at the vestry window to paint his riverscapes. The famous 18th century botanist William Curtis is commemorated in the third, while the fourth is for the US “archetypal traitor” General Benedict Arnold, given by an American donor.

*Houses, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-24*

At the extreme right of this picture is a sign pointing to the riverside walk which began next to the slipway beside the church and in the centre is the rather ugly riverside development of Valiant House, in 1971 one of the earlier blocks of luxury riverside flats. The Survey of London quotes it being described as ‘luxurious and dismal, a high security complex which afforded views of the river as well as the rubbish tips on Chelsea
Reach’. It took its name from the former concrete works on part of the site at Valiant Wharf, and perhaps the only mitigating grace of the development was that it provided a narrow riverside walkway, though a little narrow.

The houses at left, probably mainly Victorian with various alterations now look rather different but the facades along the street remain.

*Houses, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-25*

A few yards along the street with an attractive curve leading to Battersea Square the view here seems little changed now. You can see the Grade II listed Raven (no longer a Pub) just to the left of the traffic light.

Lamp post, River Thames, Chelsea Wharf, Kensington & Chelsea, Vicarage Walk, battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-13 — *Lamp post, River Thames, Chelsea Wharf, Kensington & Chelsea, Vicarage Walk, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-13*

The view across the river to Chelsea Harbour. Planning permission was granted for this huge riverside development in 1986 and building proceeded rapidly. By 1989 from across the river it seemed complete and very different to what Sands End would have looked like when Nell Gwyn lived here or when it was a coal dock for the gas works and railways. The old coal dock, became a somewhat shorter marina. The 18 storey tower was erected at a rapid pace, with at one point gaining a new floor every 4 days, and was topped out in six months.

The 310 luxury flats in the new development were marketed with prices starting at around £2 million per property and have 24 hour security patrols and porterage.

Being towed by a tug upriver are empty containers which have carried London’s rubbish away downstream and are now returning upstream to the refuse depot at Wandsworth for refilling with the barge sitting considerably higher in the water. I think this general waste now mainly goes for incineration at Crossness.

*Moorings, River Thames, Railway Bridge, Albion Quay, Lombard Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-16*

Battersea Railway Bridge was built in 1863 and has been strengthened and refurbished in 1969 and in 1992 after I made this picture.

It provides one of relatively few links between railways south of the Thames and those to the north and is used by Overground and mainline trains running between Kensington Olympia (and points north) and Clapham Junction. It is also used by goods traffic which could use Battersea’s extensive rail network to run almost anywhere in the South.

The stretch of walkway by the river leading here through the narrow Vicarage Gardens next to Vicarage Crescent had been opened up some years earlier. But there was still little access to the river beyond the railway bridge. Since then the riverside path now continues through one of the railway arches.

There are plans for a foot and cycle bridge across the Thames next to the railway bridge, but although a start has been made on this project and planning permission was given by both Wandsworth and Hammersmith & Fulham in 2013 I think funding remains a problem; but Wikipedia states ‘The forecast opening date is 2025, taking 18 months to build and audit.’

More on my walk in August 1989 in a later post.

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Tags:1989, Albion Quay, August 1989, Battersea, Battersea Church Rd, Chelsea Harbour, Chelsea Wharf, Church Rd, General Benedict Arnold, House boats, J M W Turner, Kensington & Chelsea, Lombard Rd, London, London Photos, Mooring, moorings, Old Swan, peter Marshall, railway bridge, River Thames, slipwy, St Mary's, Survey of London, Wandsworth, William Blake, William Curtis
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Battersea Park, Flour Mill and Somerset Estate

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024

Battersea Park, Flour Mill and Somerset Estate continues my walk on Friday 4th August 1989 in Battersea from the previous post, The Raven, Villas, Mansion Flats & A Bridge. The walk began with Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie.

*Battersea Park, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-12*

I’m not what was happening in Battersea Park, and perhaps I had arruved too early.

*Battersea Park, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-21*

A tree close to the tent had a rather odd piece of fencing around it and I also photographed this, both with the tent and on its own, though I’ve not put that on-line. I walked on to the Peace Pagoda and took another three pctures – again not posted online, because it was rather better in colour – I think there are eleven images in the colour album for 1989.

*Insect, Battersea Park, London, 1989 89-8c-73*

And I still can’t tell you what was happening in the park, but here is a picture I think I took a little later before I decided to leave and continue my walk.

*Josie 4 Arnie, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-55*

I returned west towards the centre of Battersea. Back in 1989 the riverside at Battersea was still lined with industry and there was no path west beside the river and I had to go back from the park along Parkgate Rd and then cross Battersea Bridge Road and walk along Battersea Church Road.

There my eye was caught by this rather odd graffiti – back then there was far less on walls in London. I couldn’t decode what the drawing on the wall was meant to represent and I still can’t. On one side of the dark box in the corner was a cartoon rabbit with two terms of affection ‘Hun’ and ‘Snoocums’ with more the more comprehendible message across its door with a heart and ‘JOSIE 4 ARNIE’. At right was an open gate and there were also some interesting shadows.

*Rank Hovis Ltd, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-42*

On Battersea Church Road was the still busy factory of Rank Hovis Ltd although much of the other industry including the Morgan Crucible Company had already gone and its site replaced by housing, beginning at Morgan’s Walk estate in 1984.

The mill here had begun in 1788 with an unusual horizontal windmill built by Thomas Fowler to crush linseed for the oil for paints, but a few years later became used for grinding corn and barley. Around 1825 the mill was taken down and replaced by a steam engine. The mill grew and was eventually taken over by the Mayhew family in the 1890s as Mark Mayhew Mill.

*Rank Hovis Ltd, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-44*

In 1914 the Mayhew’s business was bought by Joseph Rank and became run by Rank’s second son Rowland who used his father’s Hull architects Sir Alfred Gelder and Llewellyn Kitchen to reconstruct and enlarge the site. They managed to get the LCC to waive regulations on building heights to construct the largest grain silos in London so that a whole lighter full of grain could be unloaded at a time.

In 1962, Ranks acquired Hovis McDougal, becoming Rank Hovis McDougal, though by 1989 the McDougal seems to have disappeared. The mills were updated and produced up to 10 tonnes of white flour an hour, using mainly UK wheat delivered by lorry, though some came from Canada and was delivered by barge from Tilbury Docks.

The mills only finally closed around 1992, and were demolished in 1997; the site is now occupied by the tall triangle of Richard Roger’s Montevetro riverside flats, covered at some length by the Survey of London.

*Dimson Hall Social Club, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8b-46*

Across the road to the south of the road in 1989 was the very different triangle of the Dimson Hall Social Club, part of the extensive Somerset Estate begun by the GLC in 1962 and completed by the London Borough of Wandsworth. This community centre was named after GLC councillor Gladys Dimson who was the GLC housing chair from 1973-77. A colleague of Ken Livingstone, she was also involved with both Shelter and the settlement of Toynbee Hall in East London.

Currently flats on the Somerset Estate are advertised at around almost couple of a million pounds less than their near neighbours in Montevetro.

The riverside developments on the river in Battersea although often controversial do mean there is now a riverside path along virtually the whole length. Back in 1989 there was I think no access for the public between Battersea Bridge and St Mary’s Church where the next post on this walk will begin.

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Tags:1989, August 1989, Battersea, Battersea Church Rd, Battersea Park, color album, colour album, Dimson Hall Social Club, Flour Mill, Gladys Dimson, GLC, graffiti, Hun, Joseph Rank, Josie 4 Arnie, Llewellyn Kitchen, London, London Photos, Mark Mayhew Mill, Montevetro, Morgan's Walk, peace pagoda, peter Marshall, Rank Hovis Ltd, rever access, River Thames, riverside path, Sir Alfred Gelder, Snoocums, Somerset Estate, Wandsworth
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Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie

Saturday, February 17th, 2024

My walk on Friday 4th August 1989 began at a bus stop on Battersea Bridge Road more or less opposite where I had caught a bus at the end of my previous walk

*Shuttleworth Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-7o-14*

McCarthy Court is set just a few yards back from the road and I think this picture of it was possibly taken in Bridge Lane. Its two long blocks, one 4-storey and the other 2-storey were built for Wandsworth Council in 1978 with an inner garden between them and they contain 42 one bedroom flats and 36 two bedroom flats. The estate, now with a mix of council tenants, leaseholders and private tenants since 2005 has been managed by the McCarthy Court Co-operative whose board consists of estate residents with one council nominee. I assume McCarthy was the name of some local councillor or officer but perhaps someone in the area can tell me.

It had been planned, as the Survey of London recounted in 2013 as a part of a much larger development by the then Conservative government, but permission for much of this was denied by the Ministry of Housing and Wandsworth was told the houses over much of the site were sound and could be renovated. Writing about these pictures now I often wish that this survey had been available when I was photographing the area, as there were few published sources then.

*Bridge Lane, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-7o-15*

The first Battersea Bridge was a toll bridge which replaced a ferry across the River Thames to Chelsea and was opened to pedestrians in 1771 and to horses and carts the following year. Designer Henry Holland had been forced to cut costs and the bridge was narrow and dangerous both to users and river traffic, but with some reinforcement it lasted until 1885, the last wooden bridge over the Thames. This bridge was painted by almost every significant British painter of the age including Turner and Whistler.

Presumably Bridge Lane used to lead to the bridge, though it now stops short, and may in earlier times have led the the ferry. These houses on Bridge Lane are presumably Victorian and may have been among those saved from demolition by the Minstry of Housing in 1968, though I think these are what is now number 1 and 2 on the north side of the road, despite the number 9 in my picture and 15 on one of the doors.

*Bridge Lane, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-7o-16*

An interesting use of piles of bricks on top of both rectangular and cylindrical columns on the gate and steps to this house. I don’t think these have survived.

Back in the 1960s the Tate Gallery had paid Carl Andre a little over £2,000 for a pile of bricks, causing huge controversy over what many considered a waste of money. These seemed to me rather more interesting.

*Fence, Orbel St, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-64*

Bridge Lane ends at Surrey Lane and I turned west down it and then down Orbel Street. The estate here was built in the 1870s and 80s, and the northern side of Orbel Street is lined by semi-detached two storey houses with only vestigial front gardens.

You can stil see the short section of fencing between the two doorways of 70 and 72 on the street, unusually ornate for these houses, but the gate and the section fronting the pavement has gone. With the leaves from the shrub behind I felt I could almost be in the Palm House at Kew.

The House Hospital, 64 Battersea High St, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-52 — *The House Hospital, 64, Battersea High St, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-52*

Not a medical establishment, The House Hospital at 64 Battersea High Street was for me symbol of the rapid and considerable gentrification of the area taking place as the industries were moving out. It offered replacement doors, at a price unspecified, fire places, baths, basins, taps etc. The site at 64-66 had built in 1975 for the factory of Allen and Ernest Lambert, who called themselves the Allen Brothers and made cigars. It later became a pipe factory for Imperial Tobacco until around 1930. According to the Survey of London “in the late 1950s they were occupied by the Ductube Company Ltd, makers of inflatable tubing for laying ducts in concrete.”

The building at right and the factory site behind has since been redeveloped as ‘Restoration Square‘. Number 64 and therather dull block at left, Powrie House, remain.

Bennett's Brasserie, London House, Battersea Square, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-55 — *Bennett’s Brasserie, London House, Battersea Square, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-8a-55*

James Bennett was a linen draper, who named his business premises very visibly ‘London House’. Originally in a Georgian building on the right of this picture he added to this in a matching fashion across the middle and left of my picture in 1866. I think the ground-floor addition of Bennett’s Brasserie is rather later. The builidng is locally listed. I think ‘London’ was perhaps a suggestion that he sold fine fabrics, not the coarser ‘Manchester’ cloth, as Battersea was clearly back then not in London.

Gordon Ramsey took over the Brasserie in 2014 as a restaurant, but this closed in 2022.

Battersea Square had more or less disappeared off the maps by the 1970s, but the name was restored and considerable work carried out on the area after it was designated as a Conservation Area – the work was more or less complete when I made these pictures in 1989.

More from Battersea in a later post about this walk.

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Tags:1989, 64, Allen Brothers, August 1989, Battersea, Battersea High St, Battersea Square, Bennett's Brasserie, Bridge Lane, cigar works, fence, James Bennett, London, London House, London Photos, McCarthy Court, Orbel St, peter Marshall, Restoration Square, Shuttleworth Rd, Survey of London, The House Hospital, tobacco works, Walk, Wandsworth
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Posts Tagged ‘August 1989’

Charterhouse, A Diary, School, Church & Houses

St Peter & St Paul, Candles, A Pub & Distillery

River Thames, St Mary’s, Church Rd, Chelsea Harbour & A Bridge

Council flats, Piles of Bricks, A House Hospital and Brasserie

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