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Category Archives: London history
The origins of fire insurance (& ‘lusty able body’d firemen’)
The Great Fire of London (1666) destroyed more than 13,000 houses and displaced about 100,000 people but it took a couple of decades for its embers to spark the first blaze of the fire insurance business. Nicholas Barbon was probably the first … Continue reading
‘What to do with the Crystal Palace?’
What better time to appreciate second chances than at the the beginning of a new year. The Crystal Palace [a name of fairy tale splendor, if ever I heard one] sparkled as the stage for Britain’s Great Exhibition of 1851 but … Continue reading
Posted in London history, Parks & gardens, Victorian park estates
Tagged Alison Kay, Brighton and South Coast Railway, Crystal Palace at Sydenham, Crystal Palace Company, Crystal Palace Park, fire at the Crystal Palace, Great Exhibition of 1851, history of Penge, history of Sydenham, Jospeh Paxton, Leo Schuster, London, Samuel Laing, Sir Henry Buckland, The Crystal Palace, the Property Historian, William Cubitt
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House tales: The brothers Letts
Following on from my earlier post ‘A brief history of park villa estates’, I’ve been devoting a number of blog posts to a park villa I previously had the pleasure of living in on the Crystal Palace Park Estate. … Continue reading
Posted in House History, London history, Victorian park estates
Tagged Alison Kay, Brockley Conservation area, Charles Letts, Crystal Palace Park Road, history of Sydenham, House History, Jewes Walk, Letts Son & Co., property historian, Rev. Edgar Letts, Thomas Letts, Victorian park villas, victorian villas
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The beginnings of an obsession
Several years back, before children and a lectureship at Lancaster University beckoned, I bought a flat in London on Crystal Palace Park Road. It was a neo-gothic, red brick villa and its garden backed onto Crystal Palace Park (of dinosaur … Continue reading
Posted in London history, Parks & gardens, Victorian park estates
Tagged 9 Crystal Palace Park Road, Alison Kay, Crystal Palace Foundation, Crystal Palace Park, Crystal Palace Park estate, Crystal Palace Park villas, house detective, House History, Joseph Paxton, London Development Agency, property historian, Victorian London, Victorian park villas
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Whitechapel’s Angel Alley: prostitutes and property
Large scale migration to nineteenth-century cities created a pressing need for suitable lodgings and by 1871, some 1,401 lodging houses were listed in the London Post Office Directory. HoweverVictorian London’s lodging houses varied considerably in size and character.Distinguished guests crossed … Continue reading
A gentleman wishes to LET
CRYSTAL PALACE, near Sydenham Entrance – A gentleman wishes to LET, for six or twelve months, his nicely FURNISHED villa, overlooking well timbered park-like grounds. Five bedroom, dressing room, drawing and dining rooms, usual offices; garden and croquet lawn. Rent, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice from the past, House History, Landlordism & the property business, London history, Victorian park estates
Tagged convert past values into current values, Crystal Palace at Sydenham, Crystal Palace Park Road, historical newspapers, house historian, House History, John Norton, Joseph Paxton, measuring worth, pleasure gardens, property historian, Times Digital archive
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