Thames Tributary Effra - Brixton

Thames Tributary Effra
The Effra flows northwards through this area

TQ 31072 75387


Central Brixton which is about as inner city as you can get.  Big shops, lively markets, pubs, cinemas, music venues and interesting local authority housing schemes

Post to the north Brixton and Stockwell
Post to the east Denmark Hill
Post to the south Brockwell Park

Astoria Walk
Brixton Academy in the Odeon Astoria Cinema., currently the O2 Academy, is a leading music venue which has hosted a range of leading acts since 1983. The maximum capacity is 4,921. The original cinema was built on the site of a garden and opened by E. A. Stone in 1929. It has a half-domed entrance, Mediterranean interior and a proscenium in the shape of the Rialto Bridge. Designed by Ewan Barr and T.P.Someford, who worked on the Temperance Billiard Halls. The opening publicity called it ‘an acre of seats in a garden of dreams’. A Crompton Organ was installed in a Maclean design. This was a 13-rank organ with two consoles, one on stage and one in the pit.

Atlantic Road
Market – developed as Brixton Road became a shopping centre mid-19th but moved to Station Road in the 1920s.
Brick railway viaduct of 1865; cast iron columns support platform of Brixton station. Built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway
High level lattice bridge built for the South London Line 1867.
1-55 shop units within the railway viaduct
20 Railway Hotel, 1880, Victorian building, with a listed tower, opened as a hotel in 1880. It is built around the high level railway bridge with one of the brick arches making up part of the third floor roof. Three separate railway lines pass within metres of the pub and thus the clock, by William Sainsbury, is six-sided so that it could be read from trains in all directions. It has a long association with music and in the 1960s; Jimi Hendrix was reputed to have jammed there. It was renamed Brady's in the 1990s but closed down in 1999 for redevelopment
25 Marks & Spencer's first London Penny Bazaar was in these arches
55-58 David Greig store with original green tiling and 'DG' initials. The first David Greig store was no 54 and at one time the firm owned several other premises in the road
58a Sid’s Cars.
Brixton Village – built as Granville Arcade, 1957. The most recent of Brixton’s arcades opening in 1937. A very short section opened as part of the tube station. Built by Granville Grossman and designed by Messrs Burr
77 ornate Victorian shop front

Angell Town
The area was developed in the 1850s with curving roads and tall houses with profuse ornament. It named after the Angell family who owned land here from the late 17th. Many of the original houses were replaced in the 1970s by four-storey yellow brick maisonettes.

Barrington Road
Blocks built to fill the gap left by the never built inner London ring road.
East Brixton Station Opened 13th August 1866 by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway as Loughborough Park Station with an entrance in Barrington Road. In 1870 it was renamed ‘Loughborough Park and Brixton’ and then became ‘East Brixton station’ on the line from London Bridge in 1867. In 1894 it was renamed ‘East Brixton. In 1977 it was closed. The Barrington Road entrances remain.
Mural by Jason Gibilaro
53 Brixton Orphanage for Fatherless Girls now converted to housing
302 Medusa Club

Brixton Oval
Ritzy. The Electric Pavilion Cinema of 1911 restored as a small multiplex called the Ritzy. It was designed in 1910 by E. C. Homer and Lucas. As one the earliest purpose-built cinemas.For many years it was part of the Israel Davis chain ran it. Alterations were carried out by George Coles in 1954, when the cinema was renamed Pullman and the 1920s organ removed. The proscenium arch has eight bays with pilasters with plaster panels and swags. Writhing cherubs survive on the facade. In 1975 became the ‘Classic which closed in 1976. It was reopened as an arts cinema two years later, called 'Little Bit Ritzy'. Oasis Cinemas bought The Ritzy in 1994 and added four screens, a bar and a cafe. It is one of two cinemas in 1971, which presented the European premiere of the first West Indian movie. The Right and the Wrong, coupled with the second West Indian production, The Caribbean Fox.
Foundation stone of Brixton Theatre laid by Henry Irving. In 1894 the theatre was destroyed in bombing and the Ritzy has been extended onto the site.
Bust of Sir Henry Tate 1899. Bronze by Thomas Brock on a high column. Erected in his memory by his wife
Tate Central Library. 1893, based on the Tate Gallery and Boston Library. Sir Henry Tate lived at Streatham and endowed this library and like many south London libraries it was designed by his protégé S. R.J. Smith as an example of minor late Victorian municipal showmanship. This is his largest and in an important position

Brixton Road
Effra - the river and its tributaries flowed from the area to the south and thence towards the Police Station having passed under Coldharbour Lane. It then follows the road northwards
Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church. The building was formerly known as Brixton Independent Church, and was built by the congregation of Claylands Chapel in June 1870. The architect was Arthur J. Phelps. In the Second World War it was heavily damaged, and it was restored in 1952–3 for a Roman Catholic congregation. It is built of red brick with a striped bricks pattern. There is a tower with battlements replacing the original spire. A memorial to First World War dead was erected here but has since disappeared, probably demolished in the 1950s.
Hall and vestry built 1955 and earlier hall in the original church style was demolished in 1955
Statues – First Child by Raymond Watson erected in 1998 and dedicated to children killed in Soweto in 1976.
367 police station
374-410 shopping parade with ‘Palace front’ and Grecian details.
377-31 interwar 4 storey building in American classic style.
393 former Black Horse pub 3 storey mid 19th in stock brick
401 19th decorative but very narrow
403-405 ironwork from 1900
411-413 curved corner with sunflowers and French turret,
414-525 grand front to Quin and Axtens department store, rebuilt in the 1920s includes 10-12 Stockwell Lane and 246 Stockwell roads. Bombed in 1941 and rebuilt in 1950s.
415 lamp standard outside ‘Parish of Lambeth’ 1856
419-450 Brixton Tube Station. Terminus of Victoria Line from Stockwell. Opened on July 23, 1971. The station is laid out as a two-track terminus and the line continues for a short distance south to sidings used for the stabling of a pair of trains for the first two northbound services.
441-447 inter war shop with concrete canopy
442-444 ex Bon Marché by Parsons and Rawlings 1977. Bon Marche was the first department store to be planned and built as such. It was founded by James 'Rosebery' Smith, who financed it from his winnings at Newmarket and modelled on the Parisian store of the same name which had pioneered the idea of the department store as a building for fashionable public assembly. The store cost £70,000 to build and occupied former nursery gardens bounded by the railway line. At the rear was accommodation for live-in staff. Fire precautions included a 6,000 gallon water tank for a sprinkler system. Smith went bankrupt in 1892 and the shop was then acquired by a consortium and eventually became part of the John Lewis Group, which closed it in 1975. In 1984 it was used by the Brixton Enterprise Centre as a base for small businesses.
446 two storey small shop. The Bon Marché arcade using the railway arches. Became part of Marks and Spencer in the 1950s
448-450 Marks and Spencer. Three storey art deco with corner tower.
449 interwar neo Georgian block
451-453 art deco in redbrick. Built for Dolcis 1938
452 19th building as Francis and Sons Exchange Stores 1865. This was the first branch of British Home Stores.
455 Reliance Arcade by Ernest Thomas of Portsmouth 1931 retail
457-46 built by Woolworths 1937 by their architects B.C Donaldson. Faience with fin detail
458-460 under the railway viaduct with decoration about Stands Opticians
463-465 bank by H.Payne 1938 whose office was over the bank
467 Prince of Wales Feathers in faience. Rebuild of hotel by Joseph Hill for the Wenlock Brewery 1938
472-474 part of Morley’s department store, three storey red brick corner in Gothic revival style.
472-488 - Morley's, opened 1927, still trading. 19th frontage with grand shop front, fire in 1910 so this is a rebuild.
518-522 corner department store for Isaac Walton 1900;
Brixton Station. 1862 Between Victoria and Herne Hill on South Eastern Trains Opened 1862 as ‘Brixton and South Stockwell’, 1866 trains from Clapham junction to Ludgate Hill and in 1969 Victoria Line came here. There are statues on the platforms of ordinary people – by Kevin Atherton. .
Railway viaduct built by the London Chatham & Dover Railway 1859/62 in stock brick arches.
Original L.C.C Tram Depot 1891 was in the Railway Arches
Railway flyover for the South London Railway 1867 with wrought-iron girders and cast-iron piers of 1867. .
Montague Burton former shop, with typical billiard saloon above

Brixton Station Road
Much rebuilding of the 1970s, recreation centre, shops, etc., by Lambeth
Offices designed by Edward Hollamby for Tarmac International. Large, stocky red brick buildings; car park. 1970 by Lambeth Architect's Department.
1-13 three storey shops

Canterbury Crescent
1-20 Dover Mansions red brick blocks
14 Dover Mansions. Plaque to Henry Havelock Ellis. ‘pioneer in the scientific study of sex, lived here'. Ellis lived here towards the end of the 19th. Plaque erected 1981.

Coldharbour Lane
A medieval route which was once called Camberwell Lane
Effra – the stream flows from areas to the south of here, passes under the road going towards Brixton Road.
245 Lambeth Harbour.
273 former single story billiard hall, long used by Roe Engineering. Gone.
354 The Angel pub closed
374 Walton Lodge Sanitary Steam Laundry, 1904 office house fronting 1896 laundry. With brick and faience detailing
378 Black Cultural Archives and Museum.
387Brixton Bizness cafe. Building is 1891 Carlton Mansions
388 Connaught Mansions. Mansion block in brick with shop fronts
389 The Dogstar was ‘The Atlantic’.
409-417 20th building with glass and ornamental front.
410 Academy Photos
415 Former Temperance Billiard Halls Ltd. Hall in their distinctive architecture. 418 Prince Albert pub
425 Creary
426 Gyoza
439 Book Mongers early mid 19th
442 ex Coach and Horses pub on corner with Electric Lane. Later called Isobar and then Living. Closed.
418 The Prince of Wales rebuilt old pub sharing new building with KFC
Green Man. Corner of Hinton Road on a very old site. Closed
Loughborough Junction Station. Opened 1864 October between Elephant and Castle and Herne Hill on Thameslink and on South Eastern Trains. Station on curves from the Brixton and Peckham Rye trains. Opened as ‘Loughborough Road’. 1872 name changed to Loughborough Junction.
Southwyke House. Flats in a massive nine-storey barrier block. 191 dwellings. Planned in 1973 to protect the area from the later abandoned Ringway Motorway. The block was completed in 1981. Its concrete structure is exposed in a pattern of zigzagging jetties, with windows punched in the brick walls. Behind, new housing is arranged around courtyards and not along streets.

Effra Road
9-18 grand 19th terrace housing
45-47 all that is left of the early Victorian middle-class housing first built along the main roads.
St.Matthew’s Estate. G.L.C. 1960s.
Memorial to the Budd family erected in 1825 by Henry Budd in memory of his father Richard Budd, ‘a respected parent’, who was born in Brixton in 1748. When other monuments were cleared to make an open space the Budd family insisted on this remaining.

Electric Avenue
High voltage. Said to be the first shopping street to be lit by electricity. It originally had an iron and glass canopy to protect shoppers, now removed. Built in 1885 as a tall terrace curving round a narrow street. . Used as a street market selling vegetables and other items.
2 with a corner tower. Built as Williamsons Bonanza Stores plus an American soda fountain,
17 20th building part of Market Row development
19-47 original 19th development t

Electric Lane
15-23 entrance to Market Row. Interwar 1951
40-42 Chaplin House three storey block with glazed tower.
Reliance Arcade. Entrance in Egyptian tomb style

Gresham Road
1 Brixton Mosque
7 Karibu Education Centre was the Abeng Centre Literary & Scientific Institute. This originally opened in 1862 as the Angell Town Literary & Scientific Institute for Working Men
Fire Station
Gresham Baptist Chapel.1880

Hinton Road
Mural on the side of what was the Bangers and Mash Cafe

Loughborough Junction
Basically a bunch of railway lines and a station in Coldharbour Lane. Named for Henry Hastings, Baron Loughborough Who had a house of ‘Lambeth Wick’ plus 24 acres of farmland covering the area of Coldharbour Lane in 1660.

Loughborough Park
A new neighbourhood created by Lambeth in the 1970s.
2-28, 45-63 Listed grade II
Loughborough Park Estate, by the Guinness Trust. One of the best of its date, by E. Armstrong, 1938. Blocks of flats in regular rows. 315 houses of varying states of grandeur.
Guinness Estate Office. Flat brick with a clock.

Loughborough Road
Laid out by the L.C.C in what seems to be a geometrical exercise. Named for Baron Loughborough.
142 The Hero of Switzerland.
Wyck Gardens. The medieval manor on this site was known as Wyk. Park with horse riding, cricket etc.

Moorland Road
Loughborough Park. With One Clock Club, Adventure Playground and a mulberry tree. Nice gardens opened 1972.

Rushcroft Road
Flats, 1892-7 for Metropolitan Improved Dwellings Co.

Saltoun Road
Raleigh Hall. Adapted from a pair of houses of 1810 and has had many use. In the late 19th it was rthe Brixton Liberal Club, and later a public meeting hall. Grade II listed.

Shakespeare Road
Lambeth Council Depot

Somerlayton Road
Lambeth and Southwark Community Transport

St.John’s Crescent
Villas in facing a newly landscaped informal open space are the best surviving 19th areas
2-20 unbroken line of villas
Max Roach Park, named for the American jazz drummer. Includes nature trail, playgrounds etc.

St. Matthews Road
1-6 Baltic house 19th house in brick

Villa Road
For many years this site of a squat.

Vining Street
Housing. Housing association schemes by the practice of MacCormac Jamieson and Prichard.

Wiltshire Road
Wiltshire Nursery
St.John. Designed by Benjamin Ferrey in 1852-3 and built of Kentish rag. Declared redundant in 1984

Windrush Square
Milestone 18th
The square was created for the 50th anniversary of the arrival of SS Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948 with 492 West Indians on boar many of whom settled in Brixton.
Maidenhair Tree, Gingko biloba,

Sources
Brixton Academy. Web site
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Day London Underground
GLIAS Newsletter
Hillman. London Under London
London Borough of Lambeth, Web site

London Encyclopaedia,
Lucas. London,
Nairn. Nairn’s London
Pevsner and Cherry. South London

Ritzy. Web site 
Rosary Church. Web siteThames Basin Archaeology of Industry Group. Report
Williams. London and South Western  Railway

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