Thames Tributary Falcon - Leigham Court

Thames Tributary Falcon
The Falcon rises from springs in this area – two separate sources, one flowing west towards Tooting Common and one north west towards Balham

Post to the east Knight's Hill
Post to the south Streatham
Post to the west Tooting Bec Common

Amesbury Avenue
Leigham Court estate, largely maisonettes. Built in the 1880s by the Artisans, Labourers and General Dwellings Co. and now a conservation area.
262 John Company

Barcombe Avenue
Leigham Court estate, largely maisonettes. 1880s Artisans, Labourers, and General Dwellings Co. now conservation area.
St.Margaret. Built 1889-07 by Rowland Plumbe & Harvey and now listed. It is red brook with two turrets. Inside is a carved reredos by W. D. Caroe, 1908, showing the early history of the church in Britain. The parish was formed in 1901.

Bellassis Avenue
Housing by London Coastal Counties

Conifer Gardens
Woodbourne. A tributary to the Falcon Brook has a source near Conifer Gardens and was called the Woodbourne. It may also have been called the Streatbourne.

De Montfort Road
10 home of Commander Harrold. Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen 1921-1938

Drewstead Road
Named for the Drew family of developers, and opened up as a route to Balham.

Downton Avenue
Leigham Court estate Artisans, Labourers and General Dwellings Co.
Falcon. A main branch of the river is on Streatham Hill somewhere near Downton Avenue

Killieser Avenue
Laid out in 1881, named for part of the Scottish estate of landowners, Martin and Marianne Stewart.
35a Telford Tennis Club. In the year of the very first Wimbledon Championship architect E.J Tarver and contractors Sutton and Dudley develop a housing complex as the Telford Park Estate. The first house was completed in 1878 and in 1880 the tennis courts themselves were laid down and in 1884 the Telford Park Lawn Tennis Club was founded, thus it is the second oldest club in London, preceded only by Wimbledon itself. Architect E.J Tarver, was the club’s first treasurer. A club cottage was built with a clubroom and separate dressing rooms. One of the earliest members was E.G Meers, Slazenger’s racket designer. Later three hard courts were built - the first in Britain. In 1914 torrential rain flooded the whole of Streatham Hill. In 1986 a brick conduit could still be seen alongside the ground which is thought to be connected to the Falcon Brook.
38 romantic garden with unusual perennial plants, Classical rose arch, obelisk, Gothic arbour and water features.

Leigham Court Road
This preserves the name of the old manor of ‘Leyham’ 1165, which probably means "the fallow or unploughed enclosure'. Beriah Drew laid out Leigham Court Road in 1839. But the road was not developed further until after the arrival of the railway in 1856. After that ninety-five houses were built along the road of which 27 have survived. George Drew, the local landowner lived at Leigham Court and sold the remainder of the estate of 66 acres. It was developed by the Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company. The company provided social housing.
Leigham Court stood opposite Mount Nod Road. It was built by Papworth for the banker, and owner of Boodles club. John George Fuller in the early 1830s
Leigham Hall. Beriah Drew lived there
16 the Woodlawns Centre was built as Barham House in 1868. As a home for the Drew family and was lived in by Trollope the son of the builder. In 1943 it was taken over by the Streatham Darby and Joan Club and has remained theirs ever since.
18 Leigham Court Hotel
22 Leigham Lodge was the first house built in here in 1843 and occupied by Beriah Drew until 1860. It was later the home of Richard Drew the architect of St Peters Church. It is now flats.
49 Streatham Constitutional Club
Manor Court. Four storey development arranged around a large central garden which was a Bell scheme designed by Toms and Partners. In 1935.
55 Beechwood School. This was originally 17 Court Green built 1862. It later became the Anchorage Mission, later the Female Mission to the Fallen and from 1991 Lambeth Housing Department. In 1996 it became Beechwood School, private primary school.
Dorchester Court housing from 1935 designed by H.W. Binns for the Great Britain Property and Investment Co. Ltd in red brick. Green glazed pantile roof.
Dorchester Parade 1936 by H.Binns for Great Britain Property and Investment Co. Ltd. Mock Tudor half timbering on the first floor.
2-4 South London Press. 1930s brick building with the vertical centrepiece of a brick tower enclosing a full height staircase.
Endsleigh Mansions 1930's purpose built flats.
Dunraven Upper School on the site of Phillipa Fawcett College. Sports hall built of shipping containers. Some old houses and some new buildings.
Phillip Fawcett Training College. This had been Clapham Training College, founded in 1900 which had moved in 1938 and became the Clapham and Streatham Hill Training College, transferring to the London County Council in 1949 to become the Phillipa Fawcett Teacher Training College. Phillipa was the daughter of Millicent Fawcett and also an early education advisor. An early brutalist building for the London County Council built 1960-6 by John Bancroft of the G.L.C. /I.L.E.A. Architects Department. The assembly hall has an octagonal domed roof over diagonal concrete beams.
Dunraven Lower School – on the other side of the road

Mount Earl Gardens
Adare Centre. Adult Education College

Mount Ephraim Road
Tile Kiln Farm, later Mount Ephraim farm covered the area to the west

Mount Nod Road
Mount Nod Farm. Beriah Drew purchased Mount Nod Farm in 1836 from the executors of Lord Thurlow, Lord of the Manor. He, his brother George and his married daughter’s families were responsible for much of the local development. He and his family lived there until he built Leigham court

Streatham Hill
The name is shown as this on the Ordnance Survey map of 1876. The area developed after the opening of the railway station in 1856.
Falcon the stream flowed west to Woodbourne Avenue.
Streatham Hill Station, 1856. Between West Norwood and Balham on Southern Rail. Opened as part of West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway LBSCR – for the opening of Crystal Palace at Norwood. From Crystal Palace Low Level. Originally called Streatham. Single storey original station buildings.
47 1930's building originally occupied by the Regent Garage. A long linear plot behind used for a workshop.
47 Chelsea Building Society. The building was extended in 1962 and originally was a post office
110 Riva Bingo. This was the Streatham Hill Theatre, also at one time the Mayfair Bingo Hall. Opened in 1929 and one of the largest theatres outside the West End with a capacity of over 2,500. Designed by William George Robert Sprague and William Henry Barton with a steel frame construction clad in brick and faced in Doulton's Carrara terracotta. The theatre closed in 1962 but the entrance hall in the Adam style has been retained. The auditorium with circle and upper circle is in its original state. It is Listed Grade II.
142 The Gaumont Palace Cinema opened 1932 designed in Art Deco by Charles Nicholas & J.E. Dixon-Spain. It had an open-air terrace above the entrance which served teas a Crompton organ with ten ranks. In 1944 it bombed, closed and used as a factory and only re-opened in 1955 with "Doctor At Sea.” It closed in 1961 with Sophia Loren. It was converted into a 36-lane bowling alley but Streatham Bowl closed in 2008.
150-160 Caesar’s Palace. Was previously the Locarno Ballroom. Opened in 1929 by band leader, Billy Cotton. In 1969 it became 'The Cats Whiskers' ' The Studio' in 1984, 'The Ritzy' in 1990 and Caesars’ in 1995. Now lap dancing, boxing, TV shows, you name it.
Telford Court was designed by Frank Harrington in 1931. Balconies for flats above shops and four pantiled roof top belvederes.
Wyatt Park Mansions designed by H. J. S. Abrams in 1938. In 1944, there was a direct hit from a flying bomb but no structural collapse.

Streatham High Road
Called ‘Estreham’ in 1086 but later ‘Stretham’ - meaning 'homestead or village on a Roman road'. The Roman road is that from London to Brighton, and its course follows the older A23.
Falcon – there are springs in the foundations of the parade of shops between Drewstead Road and Broadlands Avenue. When the shops were built access space was built below the basement floors to for water when the the springs when in full spate.
13-19 Caton Mansions three storey redbrick apartment block built in 1940 and named after the house, which once stood here,
15 ABC Cinema. This Cinema was originally the Regal opened in 1938 and is Listed Grade II, The steel-framed construction clad in brick with a decorative cream faience tiled centrepiece on the curved facade. A display board for the films being incorporated within the design which us in green mosaic, flanked by black glazed pillars
39 small, white painted, two-storey house probably 1930's
41a - 41b Streatham Hill Primary Healthcare Centre in 1960's, office block
47 Odeon built 1930 by E. A. Stone. Originally this was the Astoria. A Crompton organ Ws installed in 1930 to a , Maclean design with synthetic stops 12 ranks, with twin consoles, but later equipped with console lifts built in brick with seven pairs of street entrance doors echoed by double height windows above. The interior of the auditorium was decorated in the Egyptian Style which still exists but covered over. Converted to three screens in 1979.
60 Horse and Groom
68-70 Five Bells also once called the Hogshead. Laid out on split levels, displaying many old prints of local historical interest.
78a Taylors pub
Astoria Mansions. Designed by Messrs Joseph in 1931. Named after the Cinema next door. Purpose built shops with flats above. The block is in red brick and shops fronting the High Road are called Astoria Parade with Astoria Mansions at the back
Corner Fielde purpose built apartments designed by Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust 1937. It is on the site of Streatham Hill Boys College and previously Wooton Cottages.
41 Elgar House, five-storey office block designed in 1960 by William Clark. On the side is a red brick residential block named Rebury Court. Kwik Fit garage at street level.
5 The Mint. Was also called Baroque but originally “Genevieve" pub opened in 1967, designed by Collins Ltd, for ABC Cinemas. Named after the film it is a two storey brick building with a traditional style painted timber shop front.
Gracefield Gardens . Behind Astoria Mansions, this is a large single storey industrial building 8used as a carpet showroom
Jack Stamp’s beer house. Closed
Leigham Hall Mansions purpose built apartment blocks with shops at street level, 1936, designed for the Bell Property Trust Ltd. by R. Toms and Partners . There are five floors of flats accessed through stylised front doors with arched fanlights over and Art Deco, metal work with gilded gazelles. A strip of green glazed pantiled roof, runs the entire length of the facade, the main roof is of similar green glazed pantiles. Amongst other original features were constant hot water, tiled bathrooms, uniformed porters, electric lifts and separate tradesmen's entrance."
9-11 Norwich House. Medium-rise office block built 1970. A rectangular building in grey roughcast prefabricated panels designed by Scott, Brownrigg and Turner
Streatham Court courtyard development designed by R. Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust 1936. The front doors to the six storey blocks have grand stone surrounds with original brass numbering. Above the front doors are semicircular burnished copper-decorative panels
Streatleigh Court. Designed by Harrington's as flats with shops at street level. 1936. bricks are laid to create vertical striped patterns. Above the main entrance there is a curved balcony on each floor. At one time this was Gas Board showrooms.
The High . The largest of the inter-war developments here. Designed by R. Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust, 1937.. It has five six storey blocks connected to further blocks behind a brick balustrade – making 174 flats. The line of shops has an integral cantilevered canopy. Am original swimming pool and garages are to the rear

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A Wells said…
How do I contact you with a historical query?

A Wells

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