Lost London: Unseen Photos Of Our City @ Kenwood House

M@
By M@ Last edited 170 months ago
Lost London: Unseen Photos Of Our City @ Kenwood House
The upper floors of many Soho houses were given over to workshops, often serving the larger West End stores, particularly the rag trade. In this case the two women are engaged in upholstery and trimming for the furniture trade.
The upper floors of many Soho houses were given over to workshops, often serving the larger West End stores, particularly the rag trade. In this case the two women are engaged in upholstery and trimming for the furniture trade.
Shipbreaking continued on the Thames until well into the 20th century. For decades there massive oak figureheads were a local landmark until the yard was bombed in 1941 and its extraordinary collection of nautical artefacts destroyed.
Shipbreaking continued on the Thames until well into the 20th century. For decades there massive oak figureheads were a local landmark until the yard was bombed in 1941 and its extraordinary collection of nautical artefacts destroyed.
View of the north side of Earlham Street, looking east with Seven Dials in the background.
View of the north side of Earlham Street, looking east with Seven Dials in the background.
An heroic monument to Britain’s railway age. This huge Greek Doric gateway, built in 1838, rose over 70ft to form a gigantic gateway to Euston, the first mainline terminus in a capital city anywhere in the world. Its demolition in 1962 triggered a public outcry which did much to boost the growth of the conservation movement.
An heroic monument to Britain's railway age. This huge Greek Doric gateway, built in 1838, rose over 70ft to form a gigantic gateway to Euston, the first mainline terminus in a capital city anywhere in the world. Its demolition in 1962 triggered a public outcry which did much to boost the growth of the conservation movement.
This gilded cockerel once adorned The Cock public house in Fleet Street, haunt of Pepys, Thackeray, Dickens and Tennyson, until 1887 when the building was demolished for the Bank of England Law Courts Branch. Tennyson wrote of it: “The Cock was of a larger egg / Than modern poultry drop, / Stept forward on a firmer leg, / And cramm’d a plumper crop.â€
Edward Maud, a joiner and shopfitter, acquired the bird and gave it pride of place in a niche of the front of his premise in Old Street, where it became a local landmark.
This gilded cockerel once adorned The Cock public house in Fleet Street, haunt of Pepys, Thackeray, Dickens and Tennyson, until 1887 when the building was demolished for the Bank of England Law Courts Branch. Tennyson wrote of it: “The Cock was of a larger egg / Than modern poultry drop, / Stept forward on a firmer leg, / And cramm'd a plumper crop.”Edward Maud, a joiner and shopfitter, acquired the bird and gave it pride of place in a niche of the front of his premise in Old Street, where it became a local landmark.
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Who doesn't like old, black and white images of London? The fashions are more hat-based, the engines have four legs and nobody has white wires going into their ears. Kenwood House, at the posher end of Hampstead Heath, has a new photographic exhibition of around 100 London images from the English Heritage archive. The pictures, many previously unseen by the general public, span the years 1870 to 1945, a period in which London went from a thrusting imperial capital to a crumbling, war-torn wreck. Click through the gallery above to get a taster.

Lost London runs 23 January to 5 April at Kenwood House. Entrance is free, and you get to see an impressive collection of Old Masters on permanent display to boot. All images (c) English Heritage.

Last Updated 20 January 2010