Comments on: Dan Cruickshank’s Photos – Then & Now

By: Highlight

Highlight — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 12:49:15 +0000

Not only have the buildings dissapeared, where have all the people gone ? This is the most important question. Does it not tell those modern glass house maniacs that without life you have nothing. Long live preservation.

By: Caroline Gilfillan

Caroline Gilfillan — Wed, 27 May 2015 17:07:37 +0000

thanks for these excellent photographs Placed side by side they show what we’ve lost in terms of detail (the doorcase in Wilkes Street) but also the seismic changes in shopping that have taken place in the last few decades. Sanitised, out of town shopping centres have taken the place of busy, cosmopolitan street markets which were much more than somewhere to shop. Yes, people were looking for staples like fruit and vegetables (now usually bought wrapped in plastic from a supermarket) but they were also places to wander, chat, earwig, look. They were entertaining in a way that those huge shopping malls will never be. Much of the housing stock was in dreadful condition and needed repair or replacement, but most of the replacements are functional but soulless. Hey – thanks for Dan Cruikshank for taking the original photographs. We need to document what is around us.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 26 May 2015 22:03:19 +0000

Thank you so much for today’s “now” images…I couldn’t work out Spital Square until I saw the today pictures as I was disoriented by Dan’s earlier shots…unbelievable how much has it changed….Norton Folgate must be saved before it is too late…

By: David Milne.

David Milne. — Tue, 26 May 2015 20:04:16 +0000

These wonderful images that document the great lost historic past of Spitalfields are an important reminder of just how important it is that we should save the last buildings that still stand. The ancient buildings restored and greatly loved are the very buildings that people in their thousands come to Spitalfields to enjoy today!
The current threat to the Liberty of Norton Folgate that includes 18th and 19th century houses along with fine 19th century warehouses should be saved from their current plan of demolition and desecration, if they are saved from the current plans to replace them with yet more towers of glass future generations will thank us with the streets of Blossom, Flere de Lei and Elder street becoming wonderful places that people will want to visit work within and inhabit.
David Milne.

By: David Sime

David Sime — Tue, 26 May 2015 17:40:02 +0000

Love the one of Brushfield Street with the Market cart being superseded by a Porsche.
Seems to sum up the gentrification of the area rather nicely!

By: REDMANTHINKS

REDMANTHINKS — Tue, 26 May 2015 14:12:41 +0000

A mixed bag really. Some look better now then they did then, and some have been replaced, rather than renovated, by buildings unsympathetic to the area, however, all is not lost !! Thanks for sharing.

By: Roger Carr

Roger Carr — Tue, 26 May 2015 11:21:21 +0000

Saint Dennis Severs.
Great to see people lining up for the tour.

By: Achim

Achim — Tue, 26 May 2015 10:08:43 +0000

Very interesting how some buildings did survive and others not … — But by the way: those “modern” graffiti are anything but nicely!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Robert G. Redford

Robert G. Redford — Tue, 26 May 2015 09:55:07 +0000

Some you win some you lose ! Apart from the hideous new builds the street scenes shown here are an improvement on the mid seventies. Amazed at how much new greenery there is in such a relatively short space of time.

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 26 May 2015 09:21:12 +0000

Sadly, it seems to me that the destruction and ignorant rebuilding far outweighs the restoration.