Lost London in Colour

[hollydolly]

These photographs promise to 'bring a lost London back to life'.

They are black-and-white images that have been specially colourised to illustrate the captivating new book Colours of London: A History, by biographer and critic Peter Ackroyd, published by Frances Lincoln.

A shocking picture of an upturned bus in the aftermath of a World War II bombing raid, a poignant shot of the London floods of 1928, and a 1950s image of children paddling in the Thames are among the eye-opening colourised pictures in the tome.

I know some of these pictures seen them many times in books about the war.. but what is amazing baout colourising is that it brings these times into much more of a recent reality.. not something so much historical as something that was reality... even tho' of course I knew these times were reality in B&W ..just somehow more real with colour.. and more recent.. I'm going to buy the book.. I'm so excited, I just love photography so much..

The Thames at Tower bridge the year I was born
Ackroyd describes the Thames as 'neither safe nor peaceful... sometimes a treacherous ally of the city',

This is a picture taken during a bombing of the city during WW2 in 1940.. a picture I've seen many times in B&W..my mum was 6 years old..
Six hundred bombers, marshalled in great waves, dropped their explosive and high incendiary devices over east London. Beckton, West Ham, Woolwich, Millwall, Limehouse and Rotherhithe went up in flames,' the book reads, adding that 'the Thames was described as a lake in Hell'. It continues: 'The German bombers came back the next night, and then the next. Between September and November, some 30,000 bombs were dropped; almost 6,000 citizens were killed, and twice as many badly injured. It seemed to some that the end of the world had come.' Ackroyd says that at that time, the 'predominant colours' in London were 'of light and fire'. RIGHT: This atmospheric shot shows a bus stop near Trafalgar Square in 1953.

Buckingham Palace pre - 1911

 

[hollydolly]

This colourised picture was snared in 1875 by Alfred and John Bool of the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London

My favourite place in London Covent Garden 1927... almost one hundred years on. altho' beautiful.. . it bears no resemblance to this glorious picture..

My favourite picture of this set...

A rainy day on Fleet Street in October 1915 is depicted in this picture. Discussing the presence of advertising on the streets of London, Ackroyd writes that by the middle of the 19th century, London's business premises had 'a variety of papier-mache ornaments or paintings to denote the trade of the occupant'. 'Many coffee houses had a symbol of a loaf and cheese together with a cup... the destruction of Pompeii seemed a fitting advertisement for a patent cockroach exterminator,' the book says. By the end of the 19th century, the ground-floor shops of the city provided 'bursts of colour and variety' with their signs

This striking colourised picture depicts the London floods of January 1928, when the Thames' tide 'peaked at its highest recorded level of 5.5m (18ft)' and 'parts of central London resembled Venice'. The book notes that the basement of the Tate Gallery was flooded to a depth of 2.4m (eight feet); some 'important paintings', including artworks by JMW Turner, were submerged. The area of Millbank was 'so badly affected that it had to be rebuilt; the old dwellings and warehouses were washed away or damaged beyond repair'

...and the cover of the book is this fabulous picture of what else.. but an old London Bus... ..oh how I miss the dance halls...

 

[horseless carriage]

The most famous image of a bus in a bomb crater for me, was this one. First time that I have seen it in 'colour.'


Very early "omnibuses." You see the police officer with his tunic buttoned up to the neck? My grandfather wore a similar uniform in his police career.



I am just old enough to remember London's trams. You might know them as trolley's but the Brit definition of trolley bus is an electric bus that runs on tyres, not rails:



This is one of my wife's favourite watering holes. It's The American Bar in London's Savoy Hotel, first opened in 1893 and has since served countless well-known faces, from Winston Churchill to Ernest Hemingway. It is seen here in the 1930's. I don't know if this is a black and white colourisation or a rare colour photograph.

 

[hollydolly]

A picture of the Savoy American bar...

now

 

[Lewkat]

The Savoy along with a couple of others was a hopping place during the Blitz. I've read the history where, champagne flowed like water while bombs were obliterating much of London.

Pamela Churchill hooked up with Averill Harriman there. Her marriage to Randolph was much tattered by both of them.

 

[horseless carriage]

Built in 1838 this structure is known as The Euston Arch. Designed by the architect Philip Hardwick, it was inspired by the Roman architecture Hardwick encountered on a trip to Italy in 1818 and 1819. Strictly speaking it was not an arch at all, but a propylaeum of the Doric order.

In January 1960 the British Transport Commision served the London County Council with notice of its intention to demolish Euston station. Conceived in the context of the BTC's plans to upgrade and electrify the main line between Euston and Scotland as part of its Modernisation Programme, the proposal called for the demolition of the entire station, including the arch and the Great Hall, which were both Grade 2 buildings. The existing station was regarded as inconveniently sited and impractically small.

In one of the greatest acts of corporate vandalism, the arch was demolished. Calls for it's restoration since, have never ceased. It may just come about. This is a computer generated vision of how it would look.

 

[Lewkat]

Resembles the Brandenburg Gate.

 

[Capt Lightning]

London Bridge as it now is - in the USA. I remember being on a Thames river cruise when it was being dismantled in London. Each brick was numbered so that it could be reassembled correctly in the US.

 

[hollydolly]

Well it was sold to an American tycoon in 1968 and was rebuilt in Arizona. There's been a rumour for deacdes that the American mistook it for Tower bridge, but that's an urban myth ... we still have London bridge tho'.. which is this one..