Streets Of Old London
Piccadilly, c. 1900
In my mind, I live in old London as much as I live in the contemporary London of here and now. Maybe I have spent too much time looking at old photographs – such as these glass slides once used for magic lantern shows by the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society at the Bishopsgate Institute?
Old London exists to me through photography almost as vividly as if I had actual memory of a century ago. Consequently, when I walk through the streets of London today, I am especially aware of the locations that have changed little over this time. And, in my mind’s eye, these streets of old London are peopled by the inhabitants of the photographs.
Yet I am not haunted by the past, rather it is as if we Londoners in the insubstantial present are the fleeting spirits while – thanks to photography – those people of a century ago occupy these streets of old London eternally. The pictures have frozen their world forever and, walking in these same streets today, my experience can sometimes be akin to that of a visitor exploring the backlot of a film studio long after the actors have gone.
I recall my terror at the incomprehensible nature of London when I first visited the great metropolis from my small city in the provinces. But now I have lived here long enough to have lost that diabolic London I first encountered in which many of the great buildings were black, still coated with soot from the days of coal fires.
Reaching beyond my limited period of residence in the capital, these photographs of the streets of old London reveal a deeper perspective in time, setting my own experience in proportion and allowing me to feel part of the continuum of the ever-changing city.
Ludgate Hill, c. 1920
Holborn Viaduct, c. 1910
Trinity Almshouses, Mile End Rd, c. 1920
Throgmorton St, c. 1920
Highgate Forge, Highgate High St, 1900
Bangor St, Kensington, c. 1900
Ludgate Hill, c. 1910
Walls Ice Cream Vendor, c. 1920
Ludgate Hill, c. 1910
Strand Yard, Highgate, 1900
Eyre St Hill, Little Italy, c. 1890
Muffin man, c. 1910
Seven Dials, c. 19o0
Fetter Lane, c. 1910
Piccadilly Circus, c. 1900
St Clement Danes, c. 1910
Hoardings in Knightsbridge, c. 1935
Wych St, c.1890
Dustcart, c. 1910
At the foot of the Monument, c. 1900
Pageantmaster Court, Ludgate Hill, c. 1930
Holborn Circus, 1910
Cheapside, 1890
Cheapside ,1892
Cheapside with St Mary Le Bow, 1910
Regent St, 1900
Glass slides courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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They are so wonderful to see . It really strikes me how dirty everything was , The Muffin man was not a particularly hygienic looking chap !! I imagine he wouldn’t have been given a permit to sell anything these days !.
I love how the old photos are all so full of people – there’s a perfect balance of people and places. If you look at photos today (*sweeping statement warning*), they are either just people or just places, but never seem to be such great observations of everyday normality.
In the photo of Pageantmaster Court, you will see opposite the shopfront of Hope Brothers: next door and above the shop was their tie factory, making silk ties. My uncle, Leonard Dix ran this factory and was the silk buyer as well, and later on the board of directors of the firm. His great-grandmother and my great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Fleming nee Hanchard was a Huguenot and a silk-weaver, as were two of her daughters, in Spitalfields. He bought silk mainly from Spitalfields firms which had moved to Sudbury and Macclesfield, as well as from Italy and Switzerland. I used to visit the factory regularly and have some of his silk souvenirs, which include a piece of the silk used for the Queen’s coronation robe.
Wonderful photos. I grew up in the smoke blackened London of the post war era. It may look cleaner now, but a lot of character has gone, too. Valerie
Wonderful photos, really enjoyed seeing these, the closest you can get to going back in time. Love your website so much!
A good friend of mine uses the word “muchness” from time to time. As I peered at these remarkable photos this morning, it was the ONE word that floated to the top. Muchness.
There is so much to see, consider, speculate about, squint at, observe, enjoy, and celebrate.
Perhaps due to my upbringing in a so-called “gritty city” of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ( once known as “Hell with the Lid Off”) I am enthralled with the layers and accumulations that appear
in these photos. A living breathing fiercely-inhabited (amazing!) city. Long may she wave.
WONDERFUL Thank You
TGA’s done it again 🙂 Another great post from the GA. I never tire of these old London photos, they take me back to a time before ‘my’ London.
My great-grandfather,on my Dad’s side, was first a stable man then became a milkman for a dairy in East London. I can only imagine the traffic of horse carriages and delivery wagons along with foot traffic he went through everyday. Thanks for another great post that brings the past alive.
I am interested with the photo of Fetter Lane, Some of the buildings look like they could date from the Seventeenth Century.
You can spend ages peering at one single photo and see a whole variety of objects and things going on. Whenever I see old cine film – or photos – I always pick out one, seemingly insignificant, person who may be in the background… and start wondering about the details of their life…
I am a film maker. I am constantly astounded by every single image of old London I ever see, either in books, here on your excellent site or looking at old film reels as well as experiencing all the photographs often displayed in the pubs and cafes and numerous restaurants all over various parts of London. I often share the view as many other comments indicate, that one has enjoyed a time elapsed glimpse into the past by looking at old photos. They always to me it seems, to be so vividly captured with such clarity by the street photographers of times long gone. They never fail to amaze me! I plan to make the ultimate turn of the century story as an epic definitive London based film one day that truly captures, through the medium of film, by utilizing to the maximum effect, all the astounding technology of high definition visual effects available now that will totally re-create the visual feast that was London of the 1900’s …..no expense spared. thats my dream film project.
What an incredible richness of life and activity and culture in every image. For those of us longing for simpler days of yore, photos like this are extraordinarily charming as we begin to picture ourselves and our own possible lives in days past. But wasn’t some of that advertising so awful, though no doubt the foods being sold must have been far more nutritious than what advertising is selling us today. A great collection of photos.