Actually some of the photos are more recent than that, but they're all pretty old. I thought you might be interested to see the city as it looked from the vantage point of a casual stroller, about a hundred years ago.
That's regent Street above. No poor folks there. Employees of the shops often lived in nearby hostels. Click to enlarge.
This (above) is Billingsgate, under the shadow of the monument to the victims of the Great Fire in 1666.
Above, The Round House in Chalk Farm, built in 1847.
In the 16th century this tavern (above) was frequented by river thieves and smugglers.
Above, Marylebone Station as it looked in the 1920s. Lack of funds meant the station had to be designed by a staff engineer, and he took a bolts and braces approach. It's still impressive.
Above, The Royal Courts of Justice. I spent a few hours here, being a tourist and looking in on a couple of cases. This is my favorite spot in London. What a debt we all owe to English law!
Many, many, many thanks to Kellie for the interesting links, which included this Youtube video.
22 comments:
Very nice. And here is London in moving pictures from 1903, via Mick Hartley.
By the way, the above photo isn't of the Roundhouse, see this page instead.
Kellie: Many thanks for the fascinating links! Now I want to go there and try to imagine the way it used to be!
Anon: !!!!!
Which station is that? I don't know of a Melbourne station in London. I'd guess it's Baker Street.
Wow Eddie thansk so much for posting this.... Old photos like theses are such a treasure... and thanks to kellie to that traffic back in the day was amazing...and they think its bad today....ha!
awesome pictures ^^
this is one of the reasons i come here so often (hey did you notice that old lady in the train station photo seems to be ghosting,,,creepy)
Wow. Old pictures are so interesting. I love those funny buses with people on top.
The station looks like Marylebone, which is near Baker Street.
I recently was looking at a lot of the famous pictures that Arnolde Genthe took as he wandered around San Francisco the day of the 'o6 earthquake. (The occasion was the quake's anniversary in April.) I am struck by how London in these pictures looks just like pre-quake San Francisco. Which I guess is hardly surprising, though it was half a world away.
Kellie, Stephen: Oops! Kellie's right, It's Marylebone. I like this black and white photo better than the modern color ones on Google.
Hey, Eddie, this is slightly off-topic, but I was looked at your classic "Out of the Inkwell" post and I think you should grow a Walt Disney mustache and wear English suits with bow ties from now on.
wow, those are real neat.
my only reference to what London looks like is "Frenzy", the Hitchcock film from the 70s.
such a neat and fascinating world it looks like.
thanks for the photoss
Jorge: A number of people told me that. I got the feeling that people were actually relieved to see someone my age dressed that way.
The problem is that you can't turn the clock back. If I dressed like that I'd be the only guy my age who did. I'd still like to do it occassionally just for fun, but the suit would have to be a good one, well tailored, and I can't see spending all that money for something I'd only wear now and then.
Why would wearing a tailored suit be turning the clock "back" Not if you're sporting it now it isn't. Too bad, because I'd think that being older would free you from the need for the utter convention of plain old tshirts, shirtsleeves and jeans(or whatever you wear). Isn't the prime thing to look good?
Look at how great Janet Klein looks, for example. I'd hate to imagine her in jeans and a tshirt and I'll bet she never wears those in public.
Anyway you won't do it so that's that! But it's too bad! : )
The older you get, the more you'll appreciate what a good tailor can do for you.
Have you seen Sullivans travels? I can't see the convicts laughing like that at a Family Guy reel but you could edit in Ren and Stimpy and it would work even better
Anon: I had to delete your link because it was causing me to be flagged as an adult site. I didn't mind the link, but kids are a quality audience and I don't want to deal them out.
Anyone else notice the "horseless" carriage at about 2:12 in the video?
I'll root for that. I'm 14!
I just couldent get out of my mind who has to clean up all the horse apples left by such animated traffic?
So many of these streetscapes were lost in the Blitz.
Eddie - first timer - like the photos - one of the first stops in a 2nd Hand Shoppe if the wife's not w/ me - she can't handle "old" pictures.
On the debt to English Law - not certain but think you should search that out a little - in the Commonwealth you are guilty until you are proven innocent not like us at all. The rest may be true but the English and the Americans also owe a big debt to the Jews for their legal framework!
John: Fascinating! Care to elaborate!? About the Jewish cultural influence on American law, I suspect that's true, but I don't know the particulars. Russell Kirk wrote about the influence of Hebrew scriptures on the American legal tradition, and I like the way Derschowitz talked about Genesis in his last book, but this is a subject I know little about.
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