Riverside north of the river and west of the Tower. Central Hammersmith
Post to the east Hammersmith Riverside and St.Pauls School
Post to the south Harrods Village and Fulham Palace Road and riverside
Post to the west Barons Court - West Kensington
Post to the north Shepherds Bush
Angel Walk
Thames Tower. This is an 11 floor office block built in 1975. It appears to have been built as an extension of British Oxygen’s headquarters building Hammersmith house, which was built in the 1963 by Parfitt and Craig Hall and demolished in the 1980s. In front of Hammersmith House was a specially commissioned sculpture ‘Breath of Life’ by David Wynne – present whereabouts apparently unknown.
Beadon Road
Hammersmith Station. Metropolitan Station Buildings. This station deals with the Circle, and Hammersmith and City Lines of which it is the terminus. The present station opened in 1868, replacing an earlier station slightly north of here which opened in 1864 when the line was extended here from Paddington. There was a footbridge connecting to Hammersmith Grove Road Station.
Biscay Road
The Biscay Road Board School was built for the London School Board by Thomas Bailey. It later became as the William Morris Academy which fronts onto St Dunstan’s Road.
Railway Crossing. This railway crossed the road at an angle to run round the back of the Lyric Theatre on the line of a small road called Orris Mews. The Metropolitan Railway operated a service from Hammersmith to Richmond from 1877 from Hammersmith Grove Road Station on a line which crossed this road. Grove Road Station eventually closed in 1916 and use of this line with it. It remained much as it had been until 1929 when the Southern Railway, who had taken it over, began to clear it and deal with redundant lands. The viaduct from Glenthorne Road to Beadon Road survived into the 1980s.
Blacks Road
5 Irish Cultural Centre. The centre has now moved from this address and is building a new centre. ‘In a prominent location in London’.
16 Builders Arms. This was a Young’s House dating from the 1870s and now demolished. It also had an address of 12 Hammersmith Bridge Road.
Brook Green
This square covers the south and eastern sections of the green only.
The brook here, referred to c.1420 as ‘le Brooke’, is now covered over. The eastern mouth of Stamford Brook is said to be Parr's Ditch. It ran due east through Hammersmith into a natural trough, now the long park at Brook Green.
Parr's Ditch. This was an artificial boundary which divided Hammersmith and Fulham of Dark Ages origin. It was also called Black Bull ditch after a local pub. It entered Fulham from Brook Green, ran south west and then on the line of Yeldham Road, and then to Chancellors Road into the Thames by Riverside Studios
Brook Green Common. This is wedge shaped open space which extends along Brook Green Road. It was formerly manorial waste along the course of Parr’s Ditch, which formed the boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham from 1834. It was bought by the Metropolitan Board of Works from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in 1881 and was then landscaped and other pieces of land were added as time went on. A section was reserved for a chapel which was never built. Plane trees were planted around the edges and elsewhere. In 1948 four tennis courts were provided and laTer a play area is a more recent addition.Eagle House, This was a large mansion occupied by St. Vincent's in 1859, and later became a girls' orphanage.
Bute House. The original Bute House, which belonged to the Marquis of Bute, was built in 1815 and stood on the site of the school swimming pool.
Bute House School stands on the site of the house with an address in Luxemburg gardens.
Deer Park. In 1903 it was claimed that a small deer park was attached to Bute House.
Civil Defence Training Centre with licenced club and underground Civil Defence Control Centre on the land on the west side of Bute House in 1953
Mercers Place. This development was commissioned by the Mercers Company who owns the land. It was designed by John Melvin & Partners, 1982-3 and intended to respond to traditional London housing. It is on land owned by the Mercers Company and appears to be on the site of the Civil Defence Training Centre.
13 Queens Head Pub. This is an 18th villa with a license dating from at least the 1820s. It is alleged to once have been called The Maiden, pr the Maiden Queen's Head in 1775
St Paul's Girls’ School. Built in 1904 & 1913 and designed by Gerald Horsley with facade with sculpted figures. It is part of the Dean Colet foundation under the Mercers Co, They bought The Grange, in 1895 and this school is built on it site and that of Dr. Iles' Almshouses.. Guystav Holst taught music here and wrote a Brook Green Suite. The music annex is named after him. There is also a brown plaque on the gate piers to “Actor Henry Irving –Lived on this site”.
Dr. Iles' Almshouses. These were founded in 1629 with money left for the purpose. They have become part of Hammersmith United Charities and located elsewhere.
The Grange. This was the home of Sir Henry Irving, English actor and theatre manager who lived here 1881 – 1889
41 Holy Trinity RC Church. From the early 17th a Catholic community developed in this area and was strengthened by Irish immigration from the mid-19th. The foundation stone of the church was laid by Cardinal Wiseman in 1851 and building made possible by Helen Tasker, a wealthy local resident. The church was designed by William Wardell, and the stained glass is by John Hardman, a disciple of Pugin. In 1862 a tower was added, designed by Joseph Hanson, the cab designer.
Parish Centre, This is behind the church
41a Larmenier and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School attached to the church. This is on a landlocked site for a two storey spiral building which incorporates Fibonacci’s golden mean plus sustainable features. By Studio E Architects 2006
42 St Josephs Almshouse. A Catholic almshouse was opened here in 1851. The Aged Poor Society had been established in 1708 to give relief to poor Catholics of 'good character’. In 1851 they founded this almshouse using donations from well wishers. Only one range remains. They were probably by Wardell in ragstone, with two storeys of pretty square-headed traceried windows with a statue of St Joseph on the gable end. Originally 1629.
43 Elms House. Also known as Glacier House. This was built by Lyons in 1936/1937 to house clerical staff and was named for the mansion previously on the site. It was claimed to be state of the art for an office building of the time and was probably one of the first open-plan offices. In the Second World War it was used for storage only because of the risk of bombing. In 1957 it housed the first LEO II taking up most of the second floor. In 1963 a LEO III was also installed and then a LEO 326. A company museum was later opened in the foyer but many items were later lost. The ground floor was taken up with a tray wash but in 1970 this was used for an IBM system. In the late 1970 the building was renamed Glacier House when the earlier Lyons Maid HQ was sold and the staff relocated here. In the 1990s the building was sold to EMI records. It appears since to have been the headquarters of Halcrow as part of the CH2M construction firm
50 Virgin Megastore offices. It was Hammersmith College of Further Education before becoming offices.
50 Education Division Office, previously St. Joseph’s School, now offices. The original building dated from the early 19th but has been altered.
Hammersmith College of Further Education. In 1881, Brook Green School of Art was established here and in time became Hammersmith College of Art. In 1975 it was merged with other local colleges to form Hammersmith and West London College.
50 St. Joseph's School for pauper children. This building received children from the workhouse at the age of three years, and they left at sixteen for situations. It was founded and managed by the Daughters of the Cross, and was established in 1892. It was a Roman Catholic School and had a Chapel called 'The Ark'.
St Mary's Training College was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee bought a former girls school at Brook Green House, and adapted it for use as a college for catholic schoolmasters with accommodation for 40 men students. By 1860 only lay students were attending the college and by 1924 there were 129 resident students at the College. The site was sold to J Lyons and Co. in 1922 and in 1923 they bought property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham,
Oxford Gate, a large timber porte-cochere
56 Blue plaque to Frank Short which says: 'Engraver and painter lived here’. Short lived here 1893 - 1944. He was a master of the engraving process and became a teacher and authority on the subject.
59 Ecole Jacques Prevert. The French primary school for London founded in 1974, initially to serve the local community of French nationals. It is in a building previously known as High House butyl in 1893
71 Synagogue. This dates from 1890 and was closed in 1990.It followed the Ashkenazi Orthodox ritual and was a constituent synagogue of the United Synagogue from its formation.
71 Chinese Church. This is in the old synagogue building. The church dates from Christmas Eve in 1950 set up by the late Pastor Stephen Y T Wang. The Hammersmith Worship & Ministry Centre was established in 2004 as their first owned building. The main worship hall takes 450 people and there are other rooms. They have three main congregations - Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
84 Silver Design Studio. There is a blue Plaque to members of the Silver family saying ‘designers lived here'. The studio was opened by Arthur Silver was born in Reading who was a versatile professional designer. In 1880, he opened his studio designing interior schemes. His sons Rex and Harry eventually took over and the studio closed in 1962.
100 The British Red Cross. Hammersmith and Fulham Centre
Bradmore Grove
This was a cul de sac which ran roughly behind the site of todays Lyric Square south of the railway line from Beadon Road
Lyric Theatre. The origins of the theatre were in Bradmore Grove, where a music hall was built in 1888 called Lyric Hall. In 1890 it was rebuilt as Lyric Opera House. In 1895 it was again reconstructed to the designs of the renowned Frank Matcham and enlarged again in 1899. It wad demolished in 1969 but the auditorium was kept to be reconstructed elsewhere
Bute Gardens
Matilda and Terence Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. This opened in 1966 as the first research Institute in the world dedicated wholly to the search for the causes and cures of rheumatic diseases. The Mathilda and Terence Kennedy Charitable Trust made an endowment of £500,000 to the West London & Charing Cross Hospitals to build a group of laboratories in West London. A building was designed by architects, Alan Stubbs & Partners, 1997 the Institute moved to a different building and later became part of Imperial College and later the University of Oxford. The building has recently been demolished and housing built on the site.
Abercorn House Hostel
Butterwick
This is a new road, named after a local, now demolished, estate. It cuts across an area between Hammersmith Road and Great Church Lane and appears to have been built as part of the Hammersmith Gyratory post-Second World War.
Hammersmith Bus and Coach Station. This was installed when Butterwick was built as Butterwick Bus Station. It has since been upgraded and moved.
Chancellors Road
Black Bull Ditch. This was named for the Black Bull pub which it passed in Hammersmith Road. Here it ran parallel to the south side of Chancellors Road. It is also known as Parr’s Ditch and is believed to be manmade. It follows the historic boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham. Largely used as a sewer and contaminated by brickfield. It was covered over in 1867. On the river wall at its outfall into the Thames there is an old boundary marker.
46 Thames Water Hammersmith Depots. This site appears to date from the 1930s and acts as a depot for the utility company’s wastewater operations and to have had a role as a storm relief pumping station. It contains a water pumping station also accessed from St. James Street with an office, workshop and storage facilities
Hammersmith Pumping Station. This was on site by the early 1970s and is a storm relief pumping station built on a previously industrial site. It is currently a work site for the Thames Tideway Tunnel and directly opposite the older depot site.
Frank Banfield Park. This area was landscaped in, 1975 following clearance of housing in Elmdale and Playfair Streets. Frank was Mayor of Fulham, who died on in 1970. The park was later since been extended to Chancellors Road.
62/64 This is currently the premises of Jac Travel. Until 1963 this was a base for Gwynne’s Pumps. The original company had moved to Lincoln but a company called Gwynne’s Pumps was set up in 1927 remaining in Hammersmith and operating from this address. Eventually reorganised they removed to Lincoln in 1963.
70 British Safety Council. This was founded by James Tye whose efforts led to the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. In 2004 it became a government-regulated organisation
72 Chivas House. Whisky business including many other spirit brands. They appear to have been at this address sixe around 2002
72 Phonogram records moved in 1994, later becoming part of Mercury records
Chancellors Wharf. Offices and town houses built 1986-9 and designed by D. Y. Davies Associates.
Chancellors Street
20 Lords Court. This consists of flats in a warehouse conversion. Previously Philip House and used as a dance studio by Dance Umbrella.
Colet Gardens
The road is bounded in the east by the wall of what was St. Paul's School – hence the name - since the school was founded by John Colet. It was previously called Red Cow Lane
Colet Gardens Demonstration Kindergarten and School was opened in 1895. This was part of the Froebel Institute then based in Talgarth Road.
Paray House School. This appears to be an independent school for children with special needs, in particular people with speech and communication difficulties.
Crisp Road
This was a late 19th industrial area by the river. Previously known as Queens Road
The Chancellors Pub. The current building dates from 1857.
Hammersmith Iron Works. Gwynne and Co had been based in Essex Street in the Strand. The company had been founded in 1849 by John Gwynne, but under his sons the company split and throughout the late 19th there were a number of Gwynne works and companies. There was also a Gwynne’s Engineering Works in Chiswick which also made cars. The Hammersmith works was opened in 1866. They mainly produced a variety of pumps along with engines, boilers and other items. The factory was used as munitions works during the Great War. In the 1920s all manufacturing works were transferred to Lincoln but the company kept a presence in Hammersmith into the early 1960s.
Riverside Studios. In 1933 the Triumph Film Company moved into an old industrial site previously used by Gwynne’s and local authority depots. It was owned by Jack Buchanan, and well-known films were made there. In 1954, the studios were taken over by the BBC for TV productions and it became the BBC Riverside Studios. They moved out in 1975 and the building became a charitable trust formed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Two large multi-purpose spaces for theatre, music, dance and film were set up. From 1976, Peter Gill the Studios became a leading London arts venue and in the 1980s a venue for Dance Umbrella seasons, and productions from across the world. In the 1990s in order make money more commercial work was introduced and Riverside TV Studios was formed to a TV recording studio on a commercial basis. There was also a gallery on site which closed in 1994. Currently there is a major rebuilding programme underway.
Raw water mains tunnel. This runs under the river from West Middlesex reservoir at Barnes to ground next to Riverside Theatre, Hammersmith
Kensington Vestry Wharf. This was one of three or more wharfs owned by the Kensington vestry and appears to date from the 1880s. It is not clear why Kensington vestry operated this site which is, clearly, in Hammersmith – although in this period an election was fought in Kensington on the siting of a dust destructor for the vestry. They may have operated a disinfection station here
Hammersmith Vestry Wharf. This site included a disinfection station using a dry heat system in 1894. After 1893 rubbish collections were taken from all houses in the Parish weekly and barged from the wharf to Sittingbourne – presumably for use by the brick industry there.
27 St Mark’s Mission Church. This is now out of church use and for a long time has been used as a store and for various industrial concerns- mainly motor repair
Distillery Road
This square does not cover the distillery itself which is in the square to the south. The north/south alignment of Distillery Road was Distillery Lane leading to the distillery entrance to Fulham Palace Road. In 1975 Elmdale and Playfair Streets were demolished and Distillery Road was created to turn south east from what had been Distillery Lane and run parallel and south to Fulham Palace Road turning towards the river. It now ends in a development site on the riverside, to the south of this square.
Fulham Palace Road
31 British Transport Police Hammersmith. This was built in the mid 1990s apparently on the site the Brittanie pub. It is one of seven area stations in London covering the transport network.
31 Brittania Pub. This dated from the 1860s but appears to have been rebuilt. A building on this site, which was possibly temporary, appears to have been used as a community resource centre and literacy centre, including an unemployed workers centre until the mid 1990s
48 Duke of Cornwall. Pub. At one time this was called Finnegan’s Wake.
55 St. Augustine’s Catholic Church. The Catholic Parish was founded in 1903. The Augustinian Centre is based here. The church was founded by friars from Hoxton who opened a temporary iron church on this site in 1903. The church was built in 1916 and designed by Robert Curtis. It was consecrated in 1933.
64 The Distillers, or The Distillers Arms pub
80 Old Suffolk Punch Pub. It has returned to this old name in the 1990s but had previously been renamed OSP, Golden Gloves and
Rifle. It dates from at least the mid-1840s
Guinness Trust Estate. Built in 1900 and designed by Joseph, Son & Smithen. This is a turn-of-the-century successful private attempt to provide adequate housing for the poorer members of British society. The Guinness Trust “is the oldest member of the Guinness Partnership, a group of housing associations. Founded in 1890 by Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, great grandson of the founder of the Brewery. This was a major slum clearance effort and the last estate to be built before the Great War. It was refurnished and modernized in the 1970s. Work is ongoing to expand the estate further.
77 The Foundry. Hamlet themed four modern office buildings. This was publisher Harper Collins and is now being reconfigured.
83 Imperial Tobacco Co. (Fancy Goods Department).This was a briar pipe making works. In 1902 Imperial had purchased the Salmon & Gluckstein who had used this to finish briar pipes, made in France, for sale in Britain. In 1921, it became the Civic Company.
85 Hammersmith Power Station built by Hammersmith Vestry in 1897 closed 1966. Now the site of Hamlet and Ophelia Houses This was interconnected with Battersea and Fulham in 1922. Bulk supplies were fed in from 1930 but they continued to generate into the 1960s. In 1913 a pipe line coal conveyor was installed to bring coal in from the Thames. Some buildings remain behind the new offices up against the District Line. The site had previously been a nursery and gardens.
Peabody Estate. This estate was built in 1926, and modernised in the 1970s. It was built on the site of the convent
Good Shepherd Convent. This was the Pugin designed Convent of the Good Shepherd and the Asylum for Penitent Women. It was on the site of Beauchamp Lodge. In 1840 St. Mary Euphrasia sent lay sisters to London to explore the situation and later in the year Mother Joseph Regaudiat, the first prioress arrived in London. She contracted benefactors and a house was found in King Street. Most of the women who came wished to reform their lives and were people of faith known as ‘penitents’ and later the Sisters accepted the care of girls and women in need of rehabilitation and protection – at the request of local magistrates. The Sisters and the girls had to earn their living through laundry work and fine needlework, and by growing fruit and vegetables. In 1848,Mother Joseph approached the famous architect, Mr. A. W. Pugin, to design the Sisters’ church. In 1863, the decision was made to move from Hammersmith which had become overcrowded.
Cemetery of the Benedictine Nunnery. This is now part of the Peabody Estate and was a small burial-ground in the garden. It was in use before 1829, but was later closed
116 Nurses Home. This was built in 1905 in Arts and Crafts style designed by Saxon Snell. It is on the site of a house called Brandenbugh House which became a private asylum. This building is also called Brandenburg House, and is now flats.
Hospital and Workhouse complex. These buildings are mainly in the square to the south and will be dealt with there.
Glenthorne Road
Railway viaduct. To the north of the existing railway the old curving viaduct of the line to Hammersmith Grove Road petered out off Glenthorne Road
22 Glen House. This 1960s office block is on the site of the original Hammersmith GPO and sorting office. Now Job Centre Plus.
26 Darlington Castle. Probably dates to the 1870s.
Great Church Lane
This ran parallel to the route of the flyover. A stretch appears to still exist running westwards from Colet Gardens, and some other stretches appear to be shown on maps as that, or as Talgarth Road. Many sites stretched between here and Hammersmith Road.
126 Beehive Pub. Closed and gone.
Shortlands. This site, owned by the Latymer and Crisp charities, was used for the parish workhouse which opened in 1729 with occupants making baskets and weaving. This apparently continued in use although by 1839 only boys were housed there. A closure date is not clear.
Latymer Boys School. In 1863 a new school building for 125 boys was built between Great Church Lane and Hammersmith Road and designed by J.M.Kellett. It is described as a plain brick building with the Latymer arms, and a cross in stone over the doorway, as well as the date of the foundation. From around 1880 this was used as an elementary school called the Latymer Lower School. In 1960 as the Latymer Foundation School is became a London County Council school. It closed in 1963 because of the need for more modern accommodation.
53 Manor Hall. This building was to the west of Rose and Crown Lane. It dated from at least the 18th and may have been built on the shell of an earlier building. It was still extant in 1915
53 Female Philanthropic Society. Described as being at the back of the Latymer Foundation. The object was for the reformation of young women convicted for a first offence or addicted to petty pilfering.
Godolphin School. Sir William Godolphin, who was Charles II's ambassador to Madrid, left a fortune some to be devoted to charity and a school was opened in Piccadilly. In 1852 the whole trust was devoted to education and in 1856 the Godolphin School for boys was opened in Great Church Lane, later moving to Iffley Road. Later the school was unable to meet the competition of St. Paul's and Latymer Upper School, and in 1900 it closed.
Recreation ground. This was on the south side of the road and included St. Paul's Parochial Room. This was a small temporary iron building but appears to have been rebuilt later. It now seems to be the site of the Ark with an address in Talgarth Road.
Waterhouse Close. This was originally built as general use flats but was converted to sheltered housing in 1986 at the request of residents.
43 Tram Car Shed and Trolley Bus Depot. This was owned by the London County Council. There are rails shown going in from the street but trolleybuses operating from here from 1937. It was previously the site of Hammersmith Tram depot which was placed north of the river but handled tram services to the south. It could take 59 cars on eight roads. The depot was slowly reduced in size with the north end going first then the remainder being replaced by a hotel.The last remains of the depot were demolished by 1980 and the adjacent hotel extended over the site. The last trolley buses left here in 1960 and Crowds welcomed the last one - vehicle No.1121. It had made the final run as 628 from Clapham Junction. Trolleybus staff carrying torches met the vehicle at the depot gates and sent it round the Broadway once again. The next day the depot began to be used by a fleet of British Airways Authority coaches. ¬
Albert Stanley Institute, This was established in 1949 as a London Transport staff club. Albert Stanley was an MP and Chair of the London Passenger Transport Board, among other things and one of the founders of London’s public transport system.
Fullers Cakes. In 1889 America William Bruce Fuller demonstrated his Cakes, decided to stay and opened a shop in Oxford Street with a factory in Wardour Street. In 1900 cake manufacture was moved to Great Church Lane, but was not completed until 1919. In 1921Rowntree of York took a controlling interest and Fuller's prospered, with, by the 1950s, eighty-two shops. In 1961 they were taken over by Forte Fuller's baking interests were transferred to the Kunzle factory in Birmingham and the Hammersmith site was sold and closed in 1964.
Hammersmith Bridge Road
Rik Mayall bench. This is on the corner of Queen Caroline Street and matches the one that featured in the opening credits of BBC sitcom Bottom. After a petition by 7,000 fans Hammersmith Council replaced it with the inscription "In Memory of The Man, The Myth, The Legend".
Landmark House. Tower block built in the mid-1960s and until the 1990s was part of the the HQ of United Distillers and owned by Guinness. The blocks were refaced in the 1980s and had been originally built for British Oxygen.
Hammersmith Bridge Road Surgery. Sculptural architecture by Guy Greenfield. It has a curved floor plan and measures to keep out noise. Built 2000
45 Duke of Sussex Pub. Demolished when Queen Caroline estate was built. It dated from the mid-1859s
70 Oxford and Cambridge Pub. A Charrington pub now closed and demolished 2006. The site is now flats
95 Ship pub. Long gone and replaced with housing.
107 Old City Arms. This has also been called The Harlequin and also The City Arms. This pub was first licensed in 1827 and was rebuilt in its present form in 1889
107a Bridge Studios. Manser Practice Architects.Designed by Michael Manser and expanding upwards.
175 Prince of Wales pub. Long gone
Hammersmith Broadway
The second busiest traffic junction in London which developed in the late 19th around two railway stations. It is the meeting-point of six roads where bus routes converge and it was also the principal western exit from the west end and City. It was widened in 1908 for the LCC trams and in the 1960s the flyover was built. This has been followed by a number of schemes and in 1988 Elsom Pack & Roberts's plans were adopted for a new development.
1-5 Clarendon Hotel or Clarendon Arms. It was for a while called the The Goat and The Suspension Bridge. It was demolished for the Hammersmith Broadway Centre. It was a very large 1930s pub with attached function rooms, including a ball room, in the Art Deco style. Music events were held there with some important rock and country stars.
22 The Electric Theatre. This may have been a shop conversion. It was operating in 1908 and was licenced when the Cinematograph Act came in in 1910. It closed in 1914.
28 Belushi Pub. This is a chain pub plus a backpacker hostel. It was previously The George built in 1911, by the architects Nowell Parr and A E Kates. The previous building had a modern front but it was an ancient building with two parallel roofs. It was originally known as the White Horse, in the 18th
46 Swan Hotel. This is a rebuild from 1901 of an older coaching inn which was the first stop out of London for coaches going west. The current building is by F. Miller, with mosaic decoration and good fittings inside. This was a Stansfield Brewery house and above the windows is the motif ‘S & Co'; with a swan above.
Hammersmith Vestry Hall. This stood on the east corner of the Shepherds Bush road and the Broadway. It was built to the competition winning designs of J. Henry Richardson and opened in 1897 but appears to have been inadequate. In the 1940s Hammersmith Palais proposed to convert it to a dance hall but it was eventually demolished in 1965.
Broadway Electric Theatre. This cinema operated in 1910-11 and may have been a shop conversion.
Hammersmith Station. There are two stations at Hammersmith, connected by subways. The Metropolitan Line station stands to the north in Beadon Road; the District Railway station is in the Broadway and Queen Caroline Street.
Hammersmith District Railway Station. This was opened in 1874 ad lies between Barons Court and Turnham Green on the Piccadilly Line and between Barons Court and Ravenscourt Park on the District Line. The station was initially for District Railway trains and was the terminus until 1877 when the District began to run services to Richmond. In 1906 what was then the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, now the Piccadilly line, began to run trains to Hammersmith. In 1932 the Piccadilly extended westwards and the station was rebuilt with two more platforms and the station was rebuilt behind a Harry W Ford designed building frontage onto the Broadway. In the early 1990s, the station buildings were demolished in order to incorporate them into a new shopping centre and transport interchange. The tiling from façade with the station name and the lines serving it are now part of a decorative mosaic in the ticket hall. The District and Piccadilly Lines drop down to a lower level to enter the station and leave to run parallel with the defunct viaduct from Hammersmith Grove Road. A ‘ghost sign’ on the east side wall of the station used to advertise Hammersmith Palais which stood behind it.
Hammersmith Bus and Coach Station. This replaced Butterwick bus station as part of the development of the Broadway Centre. It consists of two floors handling buses and a third floor used by a private coach company
Broadway Centre. Commercial centre and shopping mall dating from the 1990s
Railway Viaduct: The District and Piccadilly Lines drop down to a lower level to enter their present Hammersmith station with the Eastbound District track keeping to the north of the viaduct
Hammersmith Flyover
This is an elevated motorway built at the junction of the north south route from Shepherds Bush to the River and from Central London to the A4. The alignment was decided in 1935 via an Act was obtained by London and Middlesex County Councils. The Cromwell Road extension had opened in 1940 and work resumed in 1955. It was built on single central columns, with a road cantilevered out on either side. It was finished in 1962. Consulting Engineers were Maunsell & Partners, the Architect was Hubert Bennett of the London County Council and the contractor was Marples Ridgeway and Partners. Structural faults have developed in 2011-12.
Hammersmith Grove
Railway Viaduct. The abandoned viaduct of the railway to Hammersmith Grove Station from Ravenscourt Park remained with a couple of segments removed. Some of it appears to have been rebuilt .The railway crossed the road on a girder bridge which was removed in 1954.
26-28 office block on site of Hammersmith Grove Station
Hammersmith Grove Station. This, now defunct, station opened in 1869. By the London South West Railway, as the Kensington and Richmond Railway, and was originally called ‘Hammersmith’. The building was east of Hammersmith Grove opposite the end of Glenthorne Road. It handled trains on the North London Railway lines and South Eastern Railway owned trains from Brentford Road, now Gunnersbury Station. . It had a connecting footbridge to Hammersmith Station. It had wooden platforms supported on decorated wooden columns plus a plain station house. It was closed in 1916 and the building was used as a warehouse to be demolished in the 1950s.
Hammersmith Road
British European Airways. Coach repair works. This is the old London County Council Trolley Bus depot which fronted onto Great Church Lane and with no access from Hammersmith Road
221 Butterwick House, Rowton House. This was built in 1897 and was one of the first hostels of this kind in London to provide cheap living-accommodation for single working men. It has since been demolished for a redevelopment scheme
217 Jolly Gardeners. Demolished now site of Bechtel
212 Convent of the Sacred Heart, This convent is said to date from before the Reformation. The Catholic presence was re-established in 1669, when Frances Bedingfield and a community of English nuns came from Munich to set up a convent at what was called the Great House. They also set up a girls' school here.
212 Sacred Heart School. The school was founded by nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1893 on the site of the previous convent. The building was intended as St Thomas seminary and remained as such for 20 years. It dates to 1876 and is by John Francis Bentley. In 1948 the convent school became a grammar school becoming comprehensive in 1976. In 2005 it became a specialist school in mathematics and ICT managed by the local authority. It has since become an ‘academy’.
204-208 Vilagio
203 Rose and Crown. Demolished for the Hammersmith Flyover
202 West London Hospital. This began as Fulham and Hammersmith General Dispensary in 1856 in Queen Street. Later they leased Elm Tree House and began to admit in-patients, mainly victims of industrial accidents. In 1863 it was renamed the West London Hospital. In the Greer War it was affiliated to the Fourth London General Hospital, with 36 of its beds for servicemen. In 1925 a new wing was financed by Dan Mason and in in 1937 a new block was added. In 1970s its accident and emergency department closed and the hospital itself closed in 1993. The building was sold and is now an office block called Saunders Housee used by Sony Ericsson
190 Princess Louise House. Territorial Army Centre. Princesses Louise’s Kensington Regimental Association.The building was opened in 1938. On the first floor was the Officers' Mess. Behind, the long building extended ending in a large drill hall. . Vehicles used after 1947 for the Royal Signals were large and needed a large entrance and also trolley bus wires tangled with radio aerials. The building has twice been bombed by terrorists. It is currently used by the Army Cadet Force and the Air Training Corps as well as the TA.
188 Constitutional Club. This is a house from around 1820 said to have been the club since the late 19th. It has recently been offices and now may be a church
181 Virgin Active. Sports Club on Shortlands site
175-169 Nazareth House or the Convent of the Little Daughters of Nazareth. This care home for the elderly is on the site of the Latymer Foundation School. It is a tall Gothic building in grounds screened by a high wall. Sister Basile Marie came to England from France as part of Little Sisters of the Poor to come to London to set up a foundation to look after the poor. Nazareth House in Hammersmith was set up as the first such in 1857 followed by 7 more. Until 1981 this was a childrens' home.
Latymer Lower School – fronted onto Great Church Lane
178-189 The King's Theatre, This was built by .W.G.R. Sprague .and opened in 1902. In the 1950s it was the B.B.C’s King's Studio, in particular where the Goon Show was recorded. It was demolished in 1963
174 Kings House. Office block on the site of Kings Theatre
163 Hogarth House, 18th house
161 Spike House. This dated from around 1627. In the front wall was a stone engraved 'EL'. This was for Edward Latymer who owned the site of the house in 1624 which stretched back to Talgarth Road. It was leased to a Richard Spike in 1827. From 1907 it was owned by Lyons and used as an accounting centre for teashop receipts until the 1950s. In 1948 a Horsa glider here was fitted out to represent an airliner stewardesses of BOAC were trained in the use of frozen food made by Lyons. A special oven was made by G.E.C. and held 9 trays of food to serve 24 passengers. In the 1980s was demolished and is now the site of an office block
157 Latymers Pub. This was previously the Red Cow. Dating from at least the 1820s when it was originally two cottages. It was rebuilt in 1897
153 St. Paul’s School. The school was originally founded in St. Paul’s churchyard in the City of London by Dean John Colet. In 1884 they moved to this site in Hammersmith. The building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse decorated in terracotta made by Gibbs and Canning Limited of Tamworth. In 1939 the school was evacuated and the buildings became the headquarters of the Home Forces and the headquarters of the XXI Army Group under the command of General Bernard Montgomery. The D Day landings were planned here. The school returned in 1945. In 1961 the school moved to Barnes. The site of St Paul's School still has its original perimeter walls and includes the former High Master's house. The majority of the buildings were demolished and, along with the playing fields, used as a site for housing and educational buildings.
153 St. Paul’s Hotel. This is in the old buildings of St.Paul’s School. The restaurant is called Melody after a film made there.
Black Bull Inn. This Inn is said to have stood near the site of the High Masters House of St. Paul’s school.
Parr's Ditch or Black Bull Ditch. This ‘lost river' is said to have been named after the pub which it ran alongside. Now underground, the watercourse ran through Brook Green and under a bridge at
Hammersmith Road.
141 Lyric House. This was the laboratory building for Cadby Hall. And part of the J. Lyons factory complex
Latymer Court. This opened in 1934 and was then the largest single block of flats in Europe. The architects were Gordon Jeeves who planned flats with views over the then playing fields of Colet Court. It was built on the site of 19th houses.
100 St Pauls Junior School. The School was founded in 1881 as "Bewsher's" in Edith Road. In 1883 it was incorporated into the St Paul's School foundation, and moved into 100 Hammersmith Road Colet Court. By W.H. Spaull in terracotta Gothic. There is said to be an ARP sign on the wall. It was called Colet House and later Colet Court from John Colet, the founder of St Paul's School. In 1968 St Paul's School moved to its Barnes.
Colet Court. In 1970 the building became the production base of Thames Television's Euston Films subsidiary best known for The Sweeney. It was converted to offices in 1990.
Iffley Road
Godolphin and Latimer School. Godolphin School was originally a 19th boys' school but in 1905 it became an independent day school for girls, associated with the Latymer Foundation. It became known as Godolphin and Latymer School. From 1906 it was part funded by the London County Council and the local authority. . In 1951 it became a state voluntary aided school and stopped charging fees. In 1977 it reverted to full independent status. The main building on site here dates from 1861 by Charles Cooke but there have been many additions since including St. John’s Church.
King Street
The principal shopping street of Hammersmith. It also was once the main road west out of London and was part widened about 1910.
2-4 The William Morris. This is a Wetherspoons pub.
6 Maltman and Shovel pub. Now in other use but this is a building with a decorative frontage. The pub dated from the 1820s and seems to have closed in the 1960s.
14 The Electric Palace Theatre was operating 1915 managed by International Electric Theatres Ltd.
17-19 Hop Poles. Ornate 19th pub with coloured tile decoration to a front installed 1860-1
Ashcroft Square. These are the flats on top of the Lyric complex
38 Chaise and Horses Pub. This was a 19th pub now demolished.
81 Hammersmith Ram. Young's pub
82 Palace Cinemas. This was originally built in 1880 as Hammersmith Town Hall but was open for performances from 1883. In 1885- 1898 it was called the Temple of Varieties and was later rebuilt by W.M. Brutton and re-opened in 1898 as the Hammersmith Palace of Varieties. In 1909 it was altered by Frank Matcham, and from 1910 showed films as well as variety. Charles Gulliver took managed it from 1913 to 1928 ad it was then taken over by Summers Brown of Greater London Theatres and Cinemas Ltd. From the mid-1930’s it was called Palace Cinema although some variety shows were retained. It closed in 1947, and was demolished. Its site is covered by Kings Mall Shopping Centre and the Lyric Theatre
81 Town Hall Tavern, also called Hammersmith Tavern. Opened 1911. Closed and demolished
King’s Mall Shopping Centre. A 1970s package by R. Seifert & Partners, with covered shopping centre below a car park, offices, and flats.
Leamore Street
Used to be Marsh Street.
Bollards and railings in cast iron around the railway bridge
Luxembourg Gardens
Bute House School. The house was first used as a school in 1918 by Belgian refugees. In 1922 until the Second World War this was the boarding house for St Paul's Girls' School. It was then used by the army. A school, later called Colet Girls School was on the other side of the green in 1932 and shared facilities with other schools during the war. After the War the head of Colet Girls School set up the Junior School for St Paul's Girls' School in Bute House. However the building was thought unsafe and parents raised money to build a new school on land leased to them by the Mercers' Company. In 1958 it opened as an independent, mixed- ability ‘school, called St Paul's Girls' Preparatory School but independent of St Paul's School and supported by the Mercers Company.. It was later called Bute House Preparatory School for Girls. It was built round a copper beech tree which has been there since the 19th. It had to be cut down in 2008 but the stump is now a memorial and new tree has been planted
Lyric Square
This square consists of offices and flats, along with the theatre.
Lyric Theatre. This was rebuilt in 1979 from an original 1890 theatre which had become derelict. Following a public enquiry demolition in 1971 had been permitted on condition that Frank Matcham's auditorium of 1895 was rebuilt within the new development. There is a small modern studio theatre below. A glass and steel entrance extension has been added by Rick Mather in 2003. The changes also included adding a new Box Office, new rehearsal and workshop spaces, and a cafe at street level. The work was carried out to the designs of the architect Rick Mather. In 2012 another redevelopment included the building of new Drama, Dance, Film, and TV recording studios, a small Cinema for 60, and a new bar and cafe.
Margravine Road
A large amount of the Charing Cross Hospital complex lies on the west side of Margravine Road along with the sites of its predecessors. However the bulk is in the square to the south and will be taken in that square.
Hammersmith Cemetery or Margravine Cemetery. This square covers about half of the cemetery; the rest is in the square to the east. It is a now managed as public garden, with the old graves grassed over. It was founded as Hammersmith Cemetery in 1869 by Hammersmith Burial Board and laid out by George Saunders, with a lodge and two chapels, to the east. The layout consists of a simple drive and turning circle from the west entrance. Planting within the cemetery is largely deciduous trees, with sycamore, lime, poplar and younger specimen trees, and there is beech hedging along many paths. It is sometimes referred to as Hammersmith Old Cemetery.
Casual Ward. This facility for vagrants was built in the 1880s just south of the cemetery entrance.
Parrs Ditch
This was a man made watercourse which acted as the boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham and thought to have a dark ages origin. It begins in the Brook Green and curves south crossing Hammersmith and Talgarth Roads. It curves west across Fulham Palace Road to flow into the Thames near Riverside Studios. Another watercourse may have run from near Ravenscourt Park east to join Parr’s Ditch at Brook Green. It was also sometimes called Black Bull Ditch. In the 19th it became polluted with waste from brick fields, and was eventually covered and became a sewer in 1876.
Queen Caroline Street
This was originally Queen Street and is the old road to the river from central Hammersmith.
Hammersmith Underground Station, District and Piccadilly Lines. In 1932 Charles Holden designed a secondary entrance to the station here.
33 Six Bells Pub. Closed and demolished for the construction of the flyover.
49 St Vincent’s House. This is a care home for the elderly. The name comes from the Brothers of St Vincent de Paul who ran a boy's orphanage in an old house here in the 1860s. The Sisters of the Misericorde of Seez lived here 1868 -1964 and rebuilt the house in 1913. Since 1968 St Vincent's has been a care home. It was again rebuilt in 2006
51 Temple Lodge Club. This is a plain late Georgian house providing accommodation for members. There is a plaque to, Sir Frank Brangwyn 1867-1956 which says 'artist, lived here'. He lived here from 1923 to 1937.
51 The Gate vegetarian restaurant. This is in the studio built by Frank Brangwyn,
80 Cannon Pub. Closed in the 1940s.
Queen Caroline Estate. Large council estate which has recently been the subject of a water management scheme – in terms of run off, flooding etc. undertaken by Groundwork.
Butterwick House. This was a large mansion once the home of Edmund Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave and Baron of Butterwick, who died here in 1646. It is also said to have been Cromwell’s head quarters in 1647. In 1666 the house was known as the manor-house and farm of Butterwick. In 1700 it was bought by Henry Ferne, Receiver General of Her Majesty’s Customs, who bought it in 1700 and lived there until his death in 1723. In 1739 it was bought by Elijah Impey, who divided the main house and wing. Butterwick House was later demolished.
Bradmore House. The original house was an 18th extension to 16th Butterwick House. It was probably built by Henry Ferne, maybe for actress Anne Oldfield.
LGOC Garage. In 1913 the site, now consisting of the wing called Bradmore House, was bought by the London General Omnibus Company and redeveloped as a garage. The London County Council required them to re-erect the east facing garden front as the façade of the LGOC offices in front of the garage and fronting the garage, and facing west. It was jacked up to allow headroom for buses, with a large vehicle entrance in each of the wings. The garage closed in 1983.
London Transport Garage. This bus garage was renamed Riverside in 1950
Bradmore House was rebuilt in the baroque style in 1994 as part of the Hammersmith Broadway development, incorporating the restored early-C18 façade. Some internal rooms were kept. It became a restaurant/pub, currently an American restaurant.
Butterwick/Bradmore. There seems to be plenty of opportunities for confusion here – for example the Rowton House in Hammersmith Road was also known as Butterwick House. One or other of these buildings is said to have been a school – but there are plenty of other schools with these names. It is said that when LCOG demolished the house some elements were retained. Two panelled rooms were kept, one of which was kept by LCOG as a billiard room on site, ands later passed to Trinity House Almshouses, Mile End, in the 1950s. The other room and a brick alcove were installed at the Geffrye Museum, along with a brick alcove. Some of these items may/may not have been returned
St Paul's church. Originally a medieval chapel of ease to Fulham Parish Church A church here was consecrated in 1631 by the Bishop of London. The cost of building was largely met by Sir Nicholas Crispe who built a monument to Charles I in the church, which remains. This was a plain brick structure' with a tower, Hammersmith became a separate parish in 1834 and in 1880 it was decided that a new larger church was needed. A new nave was consecrated in 1883. It was designed by Hugh Roumieu Gough and J P Seddon on the site of the 17th chapel, with some monuments and fitting being kept. In 2011 St Paul's Centre was built to the west of the church.
Churchyard. The churchyard was reduced when the Flyover was built in 1961. Care of the churchyard had been handed from the churchwardens to the Council in 1950 and graves were cleared away, benches were placed.
St Paul’s Green. This is adjacent to the south of the churchyard on the site of an old NCP car park. It was designed in 1998 by Whitelaw and Turkington, and it was landscaped between March and November 1998.
8-14 Broadway Cinema designed by Frank Matcham, opened in 1912 and it was operated by Cinema Trust Co. Ltd. In 1927 it was taken over by Savoy Cinemas who later merged with Associated British Cinemas. By the early-1930’s it was called the Broadway Super Cinema. It closed in 1977 after the collapse of part of the ceiling, and was demolished in 1978, to be replaced by offices and shops.
45 Apollo Theatre – now the Odeon Hammersmith, also once called the Gaumont Palace. It was designed in 1932 by Robert Cromie, with a curved front with an organ below the large stage. There was also a café. It is mainly used for concerts, opera, ballet and musicals. It was renamed Odeon in 1962 and has not shown regular film performance since 1984. It became the Apollo in 1992. By 2005 it was operated by Clear Channel, who reinstate the original Compton organ console and it is now playable. In 2009 it was 2K digital projectors and a collapsible screen and has since been taken over again. In 2013 it had a major restoration by Foster Wilson o its original 1932 condition.
Caroline Estate, slabs of post-war council housing
Flood gates. The road terminated at Queens Wharf where there were flood gates
Queens Wharf
Rosser and Russell. Heating, ventilation and mechanical engineers. They moved onto Queens Wharf in 1874 where they had a large semi circular building on the waterfront. They installed systems in many important public buildings. They left in 1993
Shepherd's Bush Road
This was previously called Brook Green Lane
St Mary Orphanage. This was in the building previous occupied by St.Vincent’s home for Boys.
190-192 Fire Station. This replaced the former station at 244 in 2003. It has two Mercedes fire engines and a scientific support unit vehicle. There is a plaque on the building noting it as the site of the home of local builder, the Bird family
226 Hammersmith Police Station. Divisional Station for the Metropolitan Police designed in 1939 by Donald McMorran of Farquharson and McMorran, winners of a competition. It is seem as one of Britain’s most sophisticated police station designs. This is a long, narrow rectangular building with two courtyards, offices and conference room with a canteen and cell block. Outside is a coat of arms. Inside is a War memorial `In Memory of the Men of F Division who gave their Lives 1939-1945’.
238 Draft House. Pub which was previously the Laurie Arms
242 Palais de Danse. The Hammersmith Palais first opened in 1919, and was primarily a dance venue. It is said to have earlier been a tram shed and then became a roller skating rink. The Palais began with ballroom dancing and hosted early jazz bands. Between 1929 and 1934, it is said to have been used as an ice rink. It then once more became a dance hall which could take up to 5,000 dancers at a time. In the Second World War this continued and The BBC broadcast Services Spotlight from here. As trends in music changed, some of the biggest and most popular bands of the day played here. In the 1990s, discos and club nights were hosted rather than live music and the venue began to be associated with drugs and violent crime. After closure, the Palais stood derelict for a number of years. In 2013, demolition work finally began and a block of flats built and a gym
Library. This dates from 1905 designed by Henry Hare, with sculpture on the facade by F. E. E. Schenck.
244 Fire Station. This is now Wagamama. This was designed in 1913 by W E Riley. It has now been replaced
Chapel. This was in what was then White Horse Yard belonged to a Dissenting Congregation. In 1915 the old chapel was still extant behind the Congregational Church. It was built in 1724 and enlarged in 1815
Broadway United Reformed Church. This originates in the mid 1640s. After being successful in the late 19th congregations declined in the 20th and it was agreed to use facilities at St Paul’s, and subsequently with Rivercourt Methodist Church
Shortlands
1 Cunard International Hotel. This was built on the site of the Fullers factory and incorporated an air terminal because it was on routes to Heathrow. It was later taken over by Novotel. Novotel is a French hotel chain which opened their first hotel, in France, in 1967.
Southernton Road
30-32 Tawheed Islamic Centre. Shia Mosque. From 1886 to 1856 this was a Welsh Chapel and Sunday School.
St Dunstan's Road
Much of the south side of the road is taken up with hospital buildings which will be taken in the square to the south.
Sussex House. The road is the site of an early 19th house owned by the Duke of Sussex. which by 1830 was the home of Captain Marryat.
William Morris Sixth Form. This is in what was the Biscay Road Board School. This was built in 1885, and includes a 19th lodge and student services centre on St. Dunstan’s Road as well as later extensions.
17 Hungarian Reformed Church. This was founded in 1948 and they acquired the building in 2005.
17 This was built in 1891 as a studio by C.F. A. Voysey for the decorative painter W. E. Britten. It is a cottage with studio behind simple.
St James Street
Entrance to pumping station – this is what may have been the original entrance to the water pumping station now fronting on Chancellors Road
Talgarth Road
Talgarth Road today extends far to the west of its pre-flyover existence, taking in lengths of Great Church Lane and parts of some other roads. It leads up to the flyover and then drops below it are very confusing.
Name taken from Talgarth Brecon where Günter the caterer and local developer, was the landlord. It was also known as the Cromwell Road Extension.
Parr’s Ditch now runs underground, but once went under a bridge at what is now Talgarth Road
201 The Ark. this is an office building in the shape of a very large boat. It was designed by Ralph Erskine, for Swedish Ake Larson and Pronator. It was completed in 1992. Drinks company Seagram occupied the Ark it from 1996 and it was later sold again. It has since been refitted for multiple tenants.
181 Magistrates Court. This is a purpose built court opened in the mid-1990s. It has ten courtrooms and the only youth courts in West London. It also housed the county court. It is now under threat of closure.
155 London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. LAMDA has been here since 2003. It is the oldest drama school in the UK. Founded in 1861 as the London Academy of Music. The building had previously been used by the Royal Ballet since 1947. It had originally been the teacher training college and kindergarten designed by John Salmon Quilter for the Froebel Educational Institute. The Institute remained here from its opening in 1904 till its move to Roehampton in 1946. The buildings were then purchased by the Arts Council for the Sadlers Wells Ballet School, later the Royal Ballet School.
Worlidge Street
St Paul’s Primary School, This moved as the result of 20th road building. It was previously a National School dating from the 1850s.
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