Battersea Power Station station (and Nine Elms too).

24th September

Yes, they’ve been open nearly a week and I’d have liked to have visited Battersea Power Station station and Nine Elms station on the new Northern Line extension on opening day but some of us had to go to work instead :-( Not today though so i got a train up to Battersea Park station, with its unexpectedly impressive ticket hall...

 

 

 

…and then took the short walk up Battersea Park Road to the first of the two shiny new stations, Battersea Power Station station.

 

Battersea Power Station station.

 

 

 

The entrance almost in the shadow of the eponymous former power station is strikingly modern although rather smaller than I had expected. Maybe it just looks that way because there’s rather a lot of space around it currently waiting to be built on.

 

 

 

Mask on and in I went under the overhanging canopy which was providing pretty much the only shade from the bright sunshine.

 

 

 

There is little to see in the surface building, all the action is down the escalators.

 

 

 

To the first level concourse where the gate line is.

 

 

 

And the two sets of escalators down to platform level. It’s all very open and spacious, reminded me of Canary Wharf or Heathrow stations and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

 

 

 

At platform level it’s unlike any other Northern Line station I’ve been to - certainly in Zone 1, which for political reasons has been extended to include the new extension. Wouldn’t want the multi-millionaires who’ll be able to afford the Battersea Power Station flats to have to pay an extra few bob to get into town would we now? It was nice to see that some trains will run direct to Mill Hill East, the terminus of the other Northern Line “appendix” on the other side of the capital. One day I’ll come back and do that trip just because but not today as after 5 minutes a train appeared and it was time to go to Nine Elms.

 

 

 

 

 

Nine Elms station.

 

 

 

Alighting at Nine Elms again into a huge open space between the platforms but this felt more like an Underground station. Maybe because of the presence of advertisements on the walls facing the platforms, felt to be unnecessary at Battersea because passengers would normally get straight onto a waiting train.

 

 

 

From the platforms three escalators lead up to the surface level ticket hall with more than a hint of Charles Holden’s station designs about it but in 21st century materials. The giant advertising screen above the escalators, to be seen on entering the station rather than leaving it, was still showing Global, the operator’s, logo. Maybe still waiting for a client with deep pockets.

 

 

 

Out of the two new stations I must say that I liked Nine Elms better. For now I expect it’s the more useful of the two and certainly appeared to have more “real” passengers - as opposed to old white men taking pictures :-) It even has a nice roundel in the glass above the entrance which reminded me of Northfields or Morden.

 

 

 

Passing out through the gate line and wide entrance onto Wandsworth Road to look at the outside I’d say that Nine Elms looks more like you expect an Underground station to look than Battersea Power Station station, which without the branding could be a large bus stop, or even a coffee shop :-)

 

 

 

So two new stations which no doubt will be useful and popular, eventually, in an area hitherto ill-served by the Underground. Nine Elms gets my vote as the nicer and not just because when I crossed Wandsworth Road and turned to get a better shot of the exterior it was enhanced by the serendipitous appearance of an older London Transport icon :-)

 

 

 

(On its way to Chelsea Flower Show I think it said on the front.)

Open House London 2021 Part 3, Exploring Spring Grove Isleworth.

Saturday 11th September

For my last Open House London 2021 excursion I booked a place on the Hounslow Historians led guided tour of Spring Grove in Isleworth. This sounded like an interesting thing to do and is in an area not far from where I was born, so a personal connection too. The walk around a few streets north of Isleworth railway station, with the advantage of a guide to point out the salient features and history of the buildings turned out to be every bit as good as I’d hoped. Scheduled from 1430 to 1600hrs time flew and it over ran which surely is the sign of a good guided tour? As I suspect is the fact that I took relatively few photos.

 

Spring Grove Estate, a potted history from the Open House London website.

 

Largely rural until the early 20th century grand villas were developed during the 1860s by the 1930s it had largely taken on its present form
Once known as Smallberry Green, now the area takes its name from Spring Grove House one time home to Sir Joseph Banks. The vision of subsequent owner Henry Daniel Davies was for a grand Victorian suburb within some 300 acres of land. Examples of these Italianate influenced villas designed by John Taylor Jnr survive. Davies later lived in the largest of the houses he conceived called Thornbury, now Campion House derived from ownership by the Society of Jesus 1911-2005. Today this grand stuccoed mansion is bordered by a public open space. 
Listed Spring Grove House was described in 1840 as a "fine square building of brick covered with Roman cement, terrace along the south front and walks leading to extensive lawns and a lake". It was enlarged and altered during later ownership by Andrew Pears great grandson of the inventor of Pears' transparent soap. The music room and winter garden are considered fine examples of late 19thC rooms. 
Among newer additions to the area is a swathe of quirky arts and crafts semi-detached rough cast and tile hung properties. While the Crown Court's 1990s extension is an add-on to former ward blocks of a hostel built 1948as a home for paraplegics.



 

 

 

Because of ongoing building works Spring Grove House - now part of West Thames College - was out of bounds and so had to be viewed from the perimeter fence of its grounds but here’s a view of the finely decorated gate lodge. 

 

From the web site of the Spring Grove Residents’ Association

 

The house was leased in 1780 to the eminent botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Banks after his voyage to the South Pacific on The Endeavour with Captain James Cook. In 1791 he also rented land around the house and purchased the house and estate in 1808.

 

The house and estate changed hands several times until it was purchased by Henry Daniel Davies in 1850. Davies was a property developer and laid out plans for an impressive estate of roads and large houses surrounding Spring Grove House. He built St. Mary’s Church and a number of large houses on Osterley Road, Thornbury Road, The Grove and Eversley Crescent.

 

One of Davies' houses that still stands on The Grove.

 

Information from the “History of Spring Grove” by Gillian Morris.

Spring Grove was one of the most ambitious middle-class projects, and is said to have been chiefly designed for retired army officers. It was laid out in the early 1850’s, a church was built in 1856, and in the same year the rapid rise of the district was noted as a remarkable result of the new railway system.

 

 

Another of Davies’ houses, in Thornbury Road.

 
The good beginning was soon over: by 1865 only a few villas, including Thornbury House (now Campion House), where H. D. Davies, the promoter of the estate, lived, stood in their gardens along the roads round the church, though there was a rather larger number in the Grove.

 

 

 

Campion House, formerly Thornbury House, in Thornbury Road. (Although the tour did not reach further north than Campion House a little way beyond at 126 Thornbury Road my parents rented their first flat after they married.)

 

Very few houses of the original type were added to the estate later and though a number of retired soldiers seem to have lived there at first, the failure of the project was implicitly acknowledged in 1888.

 

 

 

Later, smaller houses in Harvard Road, some in Arts & Crafts style.

 

 

 

St. Mary’s Church, Osterley Road. Part of the reason the tour over ran was that the Church Warden turned up while we were outside and invited the tour group to come in and have a nose around.

 

 

 

So we did.

Close by, the International College (opened in 1867) represented another plan which never fulfilled the original hopes: the building, which was in the Gothic style, was taken over in 1890 by the Borough Road Training College.

Taken from SGRA Newsletter of November 2009, sourced from: “Heston and Isleworth: Introduction”, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 85-94. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22270&strquery=london%20apprentice%20isleworth

 

 

 

The former International College, later Borough Road Training College, and now (of course) converted into flats.

 

The above is only a flavour of the buildings and history covered by the tour. Such was the attention I was paying to the guide, who was very good and encouraged participation by anyone who had anything to add or who wanted to know more, that I failed to photograph the Isleworth & Syon School or the Crown Court. What photos I did take are here. 

 

I might have to go back and explore this area some more when time allows.

Open House london 2021. Part 2, some Very Victorian West London.

 Long post alert! Also if you're on a mobile phone you probably want to turn it sideways.

Tuesday 7th September

For my second Open House London 2021 trip I decided to follow the self guided walk around Barons Court and West Kensington. It was nice day for a wander around a mainly Victorian bit of West London. Pictures by me, words mostly by The Fulham Society who devised and published the route.

	Barons Court Station (1905 for the District Railway). Listed. The façade has fine tilework and Art Nouveau lettering. When the track was laid out in 1874 the area was still farmland, however by 1905, when the station was built, it was sufficiently developed to warrant a station of its own. Nice green glazed tiles in the ticket hall and unique bench and sign combinations on the platforms. From the station entrance turn left and then left again onto Talgarth Road.
	135-49 Talgarth Road – St Paul’s Studios (1891 by Frederick Wheeler) ‘designed for bachelor artists’. 149 was lived in by Margot Fonteyn and 151. Colet House, (1885) was built for Sir Coutts Lindsay, founder of the Grosvenor Gallery) and used by Burne-Jones for his largest painting, The last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon, which is now in Puerto Rico. I can't imagine an artist wanting to work here now though alongside the very noisy A4 Talgarth road. Go back round and past the station entrance and turn right into Barons Court Road which leads into Margravine Gardens.
	Nos 2-6 Margravine Studios (1890 Gibbs & Flew); Nos 6-12, houses related to the Studios (1890 Gibbs & Flew). The terrace has a distinctive turret. No 5, also built as a studio (1887/8 Harris and Wardrop), is a single storey building with the large distinctive studio window. Although I'm not sure which building this refers to. Carry on and then turn into St. Dunstan's Road.
	17 Dunstan’s Road Hungarian Reformed Church. Built as a studio in 1891 by C.FA.Voysey for the painter W.E.F.Britten, altered for the Church in 1958. At the time it was built this was a rural spot. The house has the appearance of a country cottage with studio behind, but one that has been designed with great attention to detail e.g. the large sloping chimney, wide entrance with canopy and decorated iron railings. Originally it would have been very colourful with green paintwork and green glazed brick sills.(Shame it's now a rather dull blue.) Continue along St Dunstan’s Road, noting the gaps between the terraces especially 30/32, which were built by different small builders. You'll need to look carefully to spot the gaps between the terraces since they're only about six inches wide. At end of street ahead is the Charing Cross Hospital (founded in 1818) which moved to this site 1973, replacing the former Victorian Fulham Workhouse and Hospital. Turn left and then left through the gate into Margravine Cemetery.
	On the left as you enter WW I and II memorials to staff of J. Lyons & Co, formerly based in Hammersmith. The memorials were originally erected in Sudbury, moved to Greenford and brought here in 2000. Further on the right, the listed memorial to Adrian Smith (c1923), a tall cross on a base with a niche containing the figure of a gold prospector. (Which I somehow managed to miss.) On the left a notice signposts the recently restored memorial to those who died in an explosion at the Blake’s Munitions Factory at White City in 1918 . Further on the right the Bronze memorial to George Broad (c1895) who owned the foundry which made the Eros statue at Piccadilly Circus. All together now, "It's not Eros, it's Anteros!" There is a wealth of Victorian and later funerary style in the Margravine Cemetery, and some nice shaded areas for a picnic lunch which was welcome as the day had turned out to be very hot. On the north side by the reception house there was a cluster of much smaller gravestones, all for young children. Continue along to the circle – go left to the listed octagonal Reception House, the only one remaining in London, where bodies awaited burial could be stored. Back to the circle and straight ahead to the exit gate, passing on the left the former Non- Conformist chapel. No sign of what it's used for now though.
	Out of the cemetery and down Field Road, passing on the left a large brick building, one of the Covered Tennis courts of the Queens Club. The club founded in 1886 is named after Queen Victoria, its first patron and was the world’s second multipurpose sports complex. It now has 28 outdoor courts and 8 indoor. It is also the national headquarters of real tennis, rackets, and squash. Left into Greyhound Road, opposite Tasso Baptist Church (1887), and continue along to, on the left, The Colton Arms (1855), is a much loved very local pub, once considered to be the smallest pub in London. It doesn't look particularly small to me, maybe it's been extended? Unfortunately it wasn't open.
	On the right, is Queens Club Gardens (W.H.Gibbs, 1894). It consists of 33 blocks of mansion flats named after literary and historical figures in alphabetical order –Arnold – Zenobia (three in Greyhound Road). Advertisements for the new apartments described modern amenities such as ‘kitcheners’ (coal-fired ranges with oven and back boilers to [8]provide hot water) sculleries, coal bunkers, larders, ‘sumptuous decoration, gas lighting, electric bells, venetian blinds and fireproof stair cases. The garden in the centre is private. These are very ornate mansion flats with some nice details such as the lamps at the entrances. Walk around 3 sides of gardens and out into Normand Road turn left and then left then right into St Andrews Road Yeah, these instructions don't work too well. Turn left out of Normand Rd. into Greyhound Rd. The church is opposite and the path is to the right of the church at this point, take the path and you come out by the former vicarage behind the church in St. Andrews Road.
	St Andrews Church (1837-4 Newman & Billing, enlarged 1894-6 Aston Webb). If open,(It wasn't today as far as I could tell.) do go in as the Sanctuary is magnificent and there is an Arts & Crafts stained glass window in the SE Chapel by Paul Woodroffe (1902). Take the path on the right of the Church (see above) and walk through to look at the former very handsome vicarage, now converted to flats.
	Continue ahead and at the end of the path turn right into Perham Road and turn right continuing to Challoner Crescent. Note Studio 3 Challoner Crescent (1899) – an eccentric building put to use for or by an artist.
	Turn back up Challoner Street and on the right note Nos 1-4 (Francis L.Pither 1887) Aesthetic movement houses, possibly built as studios. Further up, on the corner of Castleton Road, is The Bhavan Centre, formerly the West Kensington Congregational Church (James Cubitt, 1882-5). It is now an Institute of Indian Culture, the largest centre for Indian Arts and Culture outside India . The institute moved to here in 1978. 800 students a week pass through its doors. Details of courses and events can be found on its website bhavan.net
	Turn right into Castleton Road and carry on to North End Road. Cross and turn right into Beaumont Crescent, where at No 2 there is a blue plaque to Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914
	Back to the North End Road and turn right towards the Talgarth Road, passing the Famous 3 Kings Pub (1902), with its splendid arched glazed entrance. The pub was known as Nashville in the 1970’s and was a venue where the Sex Pistols played. It is now promoted as “London’s best sports pub’ with multiple screens. Which was enough to stop me going in even though this one was open.
	Cross (the still incredibly busy) Talgarth Road turn right and head for the bridge,(over the railway) where along on the left you will see the Whiteley’s warehouse along the railway, Whiteleys Repository, (1892-1901 Alfred Ridge). Originally Whiteleys Depository and Laundry. These warehouses supplied Whiteleys department store in Queensway. This store at the time had no serious rival in London. The Whiteley slogan was ‘Everything from a pin to an elephant’ for sale under one roof. Whiteley, who had himself a colourful ‘rags to riches’ story, was shot dead in 1907 by someone who claimed to be his son. The family finally sold the business to Selfridges in 1927. The handsome repository buildings have an industrial appearance and are especially impressive seen from the railway below. The area also contains a laundry block and stables as well as the 5 storey warehouse.
	Walk back along Talgarth Road and descend the ramp to Mornington Avenue turn right into Matheson Road and at the end is Avonmore Road. Turn right to look at the main entrance to the Whiteley’s buildings at the end. Turn back along Avonmore road, and on the left at 51, Plaque to Sir Edward Elgar 1889. I wonder if people with blue plaques to the very famous on their homes ever get pissed off with people taking photos? On the right Sir Compton Mackenzie lived at No 54. 22 Avonmore Road. Listed built 1888-9 by James Maclaren for the sculptor H R Pinker in Arts and Crafts style as his home and studio. 22A Avonmore Road is a working studio. Kenneth Armitage a British sculpture known for his abstract semi-bronzes lived here until his death in 2002. The house is now part of the Kenneth Armitage Foundation. The foundation makes an award of a fellowship which provides for an annual stipend and the use of the studio and residence. Alongside, 20 Avonmore Road has plaques VR & 1887 and is possibly a former Post Office.
	8 Avonmore Road – Studio House, c1880 was in 1891 the home of William Lockhart who was commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint her Jubilee celebrations. The picture now hangs in Windsor Castle. In 1895 the portrait painter Edward Fellowes Prynne appears on the voters register. Later occupied in 1949-57 by Gavin Maxwell, author of The Ring of Bright Water.
	Retrace your steps back to where you turned out of Mornington Road, carry on along North End Crescent to North End Road. Cross North End Road and turn right into Gwendwr Rd. Gwendwr Gardens Park opened in 1949. In 1948 the area was donated to Fulham Council by the Gunter Estate for a memorial to the victims of German air raids in the area, particularly the Operation Steinbock raid on the night of 20 February 1944.There is an ornamental sunken garden, pond and tall shady trees. Which were particularly welcome at this point although most of the other occupants were determinedly soaking up the late summer UV radiation.
Go back to North End Road, turn right and cross Talgarth Road. West Kensington Station is on your left. Although first I took a walk up to Holland park because public conveniences are like hen's teeth in this part of London. There I managed at least to also get a coffee before the cafe closed promptly at half past three despite having a park full of potential thirsty customers. Only in England.
With thanks to The Fulham Society Maya Donelan and Barbara Skorupska who conceived and compiled this walk in collaboration with Open House. The dates, facts etc. about the places passed on the tour are theirs, the photos are mine. Of course it doesn't have to be Open House Festival week to do this walk and the guide, along with those for other Fulham walks, can be found here on The Fulham Society web site.

The full Flickr Album of 41 photos can be found here.