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 A
History of Suburban Streatham (Page
4)
by Graham Gower
Public Services
Population growth and local administration were problems that
were beginning to confront the parishes in and around London.
Such pressures promoted the passing of the Metropolis Local
Management Act of 1855. Under this act the Metropolitan Board
of Works came into being, and Streatham parish became embodied
into the newly created Wandsworth District Board of Works.
It was now possible to address more fully the problems stemming
from suburban growth. For example, issues such as building control,
housing, the supply of water, gas and electricity, transport,
education and public health; issues that could now be tackled
more or less on a regional basis with improved resources and
authority.
Streatham
1910 - 1938
Streatham Hill Station,
Streatham, c. 1910
"The Shrubbery",
Streatham High Road,
Streatham, c. 1910
Leigham Court
Estate Office,
Streatham, c. 1910
Streatham High Road,
Streatham Hill, c. 1911
View of Streatham from
Leigham Court Road,
Streatham, c. 1911
WWI Air Raid Damage,
Estreham Road,
Streatham Vale, 1916
Cottages,
Hermitage Lane,
South Streatham, 1917
Aerial View of Streatham
High Rd, c. 1920
Streatham High Road,
Streatham, c. 1925
Streatham Vale Estate,
Streatham, c. 1925
Curtis and Dumbrill Dairy,
Streatham, 1926
Aerial View of
Streatham, c. 1930
Astoria,
Streatham High Road,
Streatham, 1930
Streatham Hill Theatre,
Streatham Hill, c. 1930
Locarno,
Streatham Hill, c. 1930
'The High',
Streatham, 1937 & 1938
Manor Court,
Leigham Avenue,
Streatham, 1938
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The embodiment
of Streatham parish into the Wandsworth Union during 1855
marked the beginnings of modem Streatham, and signalled
the second phase of its development as a London suburb
Among the initial events marking this phase of Streatham's
development was a fundamental ecclesiastical change to
the parish. Responding to the times and the spiritual
needs of the populace a number of new churches with parishes
were created.
The first of these new parishes was centred on Christ
Church, Streatham Hill. This church, a building of exceptional
style and merit, was erected in 1841 and endowed with
a parish three years later. The building of Immanuel Church,
South Streatham in 1855, soon followed this creation.
This seminal year also saw the creation of the churches
and parishes of Holy Trinity, Upper Tooting and St. Mary,
Balham. This latter parish was formed around the proprietary
chapel built on the outskirts of Balham village in 1808.
With the formation of these two parishes at Balham and
Upper Tooting a new identity was given to these areas.
During the coming decades this was to encourage their
eventual separation from Streatham and the creation of
the suburban districts of Balham and Upper Tooting.
Although for administrative purposes these two districts
were treated as part of Streatham, the nature of their
subsequent growth and development differed from the rest
of the parish. By the 1890s Balham and Tooting had established
their own identity. This was finally confirmed following
the Representation of the People Act of 1918, when the
parliamentary seat of Balham and Tooting was created.
| The Coming of the Railway |
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A further event that was to mark the 1850s as a turning
point in Streatham's history was the arrival of the railways.
The first line to reach Streatham was the West End and
Crystal Palace Railway which opened two stations in the
parish in 1856: one at Balham and the other at Streatham
Hill. Although the opening of these stations did little
at first to stimulate residential development, two further
lines were built across the parish. The opening of Greyhound
Lane Station, later renamed Streatham Common, in 1862
and Streatham Station in 1868 followed these.
Although welcomed by those who saw progress and profit
from this new form of transport, some local concern was
felt about the loss of land, especially the disfigurement
caused to the countryside by the construction of embankments
and cuttings. A further effect of the railway lines crossing
the parish was the creation of artificial boundaries and
sub-areas. These were to influence and mark out potential
areas for future commercial and residential development.
One such example was the Balham to Croydon line. This
cut across Tooting Bec Common and passed through the 18th
century estate of Streatham Park. When this estate was
developed for housing, the area west of the railway line
saw a leisurely pace of building, centred on Ullathorne
and Aldrington Roads, taking advantage of the environmental
benefits of the adjoining Common. House building on the
estate began in the 1870s with the erection of large spacious
properties set in leafy gardens and tree-lined roads.
Development continued in this area well into the 1930s,
with the laying out of Abbotsleigh Road. However, such
was the spacious nature of the estate that it lent itself
to piecemeal redevelopments at later dates, mainly as
municipal housing. During the 1960s and 1970s, concentrations
of terraced properties and a number of housing blocks
were built as part of a social housing programme that
did much to alter the original ambience of the area.
On the east side of the railway the pace of house building
was quick, capitalising on the locality being close to
the high road with its attendant facilities. Development
began in the 1880s and was soon completed; resulting in
large compact properties laid out in formalised street
patterns and centred on Riggindale and Rydal Roads. Little
space was left for future building and the area has maintained
much of its original character and architectural integrity.
The railway also affected other parts of Streatham, notably
where it had, to some extent, blighted the land with brick
embankments, rail junctions and sidings. This encouraged
house building of basic quality and style suitable for
low-income workers and their families.
Nevertheless, Streatham had become part of a growing
suburban rail network. In future years this was to bring
the opportunity for large-scale commercial and residential
development. This was facilitated by the availability
of railway sidings at Streatham and Streatham Common stations,
where building material could easily be offloaded and
dispatched to the sites.
A further factor was the electrification from 1911 of
the Victoria and Crystal Palace Line, when the service
to Victoria was greatly improved. This made commuting
to and from London much quicker. Furthermore the railways
had introduced workmen's trains to London and on certain
days offered cheap tickets. This did much to enhance the
desirability of living in an outer suburb such as Streatham.
During this period of rising population and large-scale
house building, anxieties about public health started
to be voiced, although this was a greater concern for
the crowded, inner London areas than for a parish like
Streatham. However, with the increase in Streatham's population
and house building along with recent railway works across
the area, natural and traditional drainage patterns had
either been disturbed or displaced.
Sewage disposal, which had relied upon the drainage pattern,
was becoming an increasing local problem. After a survey
of the parish undertaken in 1854, the district medical
officer concluded that the state of drainage and sewage
disposal in Streatham had become prejudicial to public
health. Such was the situation that it had contributed
to outbreaks of fever and cholera. Cholera had already
brought fear to Londoners with a severe outbreak occurring
in 1848 - 1849, when thousands of people died.
The continuing drainage problem prompted the Wandsworth
Board of Works to commission a survey of the parishes
of Streatham and Tooting.
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This occurred in 1866. In the report published the same year
the commission recommended that substantial improvements and
additions be made to the existing drainage system. This was
achieved by the mid 1870s.
With the system being continually upgraded and enlarged, a
modem sewage and drainage system was gradually put in place
and was a necessary prerequisite to any large-scale residential
or commercial developments in Streatham.
Such improvements, linked with the advances in medical knowledge
and social conditions, saw a gradual progression towards better
public health. In 1887 the local health officer could report
that Streatham and Tooting had attained a high standard of public
health. Furthermore, the officer could report that there had
been a marked decline in infant mortality and a drop in the
zymotic mortality rate, although there was a reported outbreak
of smallpox in Barrow Road, Streatham Common.
Although the quality of public health fluctuated over the years
the trend was towards better health for all. During 1895 the
local medical officer for health was able to present another
highly favourable report regarding public health in Streatham.
This reflected the continuing well-being of the local community
and indicated to some extent the absence of a substantial poorer
class living in the parish.
The report also recorded the lowest death rate for ten years.
Zymotic mortality was lower than for a number of years, and
an infant mortality rate of nearly thirty per thousand was recorded,
a rate lower than the previous year.
One of the contributions to the general improvement in public
health was the organised removal of domestic refuse. Traditionally
domestic refuse was either dumped at a convenient spot or placed
in a rubbish pit, often dug in a backyard. With suburban growth
the collection and disposal of refuse became a problem, and
subsequently the responsibility of the local authority.
Rubbish collection in Streatham had been contracted out by
the Wandsworth Board of Works, a system which continued until
after the First World War. Collected refuse was sent by road
and rail to dumps outside the borough, with large amounts being
sent to the Dust Destructor at Tooting which, during the 1890s,
supplied electricity for the lighting of local street lamps.
By the 1920s Wandsworth Council had adopted the "Pagefield"
system, a semi-mechanised way of collecting and removing refuse.
This was considered at the time to be a modern and efficient
method. Refuse collected from the borough, which included Streatham,
was shipped down the Thames to Mucking and used for landfill.
Another improvement to the quality of life, again regarding
public health, was the introduction of piped water. This first
came to the parish during 1832, when at Streatham Hill the Lambeth
Water Company built a large reservoir as part of their expansion
into north Surrey. Following the rapid expansion of Streatham
the demand for fresh water increased. This resulted in the building
of a pumping station in Conyers Road, which began supplementing
the existing water supply by 1888.
With an increase in consumer demands, the supplying and distribution
of fresh healthy water across London created a number of problems.
The authorities addressed these through a number of acts, notably
the Metropolis Water Acts of 1852 and of 1871. A further need
for change resulted in the creation of the Metropolitan Water
Board in 1903, which took over the existing water companies
and the supply to Streatham.
The amenity of fresh and healthy water had seen great strides
since the building of the Pump House in Streatham High Road
in 1783 and the selling of water by the local postman at three
pails a penny during the mid 19th century.
Other amenities which were synonymous with suburban growth
and which have become part and parcel of modem life, also appeared
in Streatham during the mid-Victorian period. The supply of
energy in the form of gas and electricity were important factors
in Streatham's suburban development, as they were in the overall
development of metropolitan London.
Gas first appeared south of the Thames just before the 1820s
and during the following decades the supply gradually reached
Streatham and the adjoining areas. By the 1870s three gas companies;
the Phoenix, the Mitcham and the South Metropolitan, were supplying
local homes and business in the parish. These companies, which
all operated under the Metropolis Gas Act of 1860, also supplied
lighting for hundreds of street lamps: a symbol to many of the
modernity or, to some, the artificiality of suburban life.
Further advances were to see administrative and commercial
changes in the supply of gas. By the 1900s the south western
part of Streatham was receiving gas from the Wandsworth and
District Gas Company, with the South Metropolitan Gas Company
supplying the remaining areas.
It was to be some time before the supremacy of gas was challenged
by electric power and the latter became a consumer alternative.
Although electricity had been available since the 1880s, mainly
for industrial and commercial purposes, distribution to homes
in the suburbs was slow. The supply to Streatham came through
the County of London Electric Supply Company, later superseded,
in 1945, by the London Electricity Board.
Like the supply of water and gas, electricity was subject to
numerous acts, notably the 1882 Electric Lighting Act and the
London Electricity Acts of 1908 and 1925. Although these acts
had some effect on the expansion of electric power to the suburbs,
their main aim was to regulate price, quality and supply for
the benefit of the user.
Gas continued to compete against the new energy of electricity
well into the 20th century. This was illustrated in 1913, when
the showrooms of the South Metropolitan Gas Company in Streatham
High Road confidently advertised the benefits of gas power for
heating and lighting. This was further emphasised with a gas
"show home" located a short distance away in Telford
Avenue, Streatham Hill.
The use of electricity was soon to equal gas energy, and to
stimulate aspects of suburban development. This was evident
in transport services with the electrification of the railways
and the tramways. Retailing also benefited with improved shop
lighting and advertising displays.
The convenience of electricity also encouraged the opening
of local cinemas and by 1914 a number were operating in Streatham.
In the High Road there was the "Golden Domes Picture Theatre",
and the "Streatham Empire Picture Palace", which could
seat over a thousand people. Also, giving entertainment to the
people of west Streatham was the Mitcham Lane "Picture
Palace". This stood on the corner with Blegborough Road.
The wider use of electricity was encouraged through local newspapers.
These carried advertisements proclaiming the "advancing
tide" of electricity, emphasising that it was clean, cheap
and healthy. Furthermore, there was the introduction of the
"all-electric" house from the 1920s. However, for
all the publicity, electricity was still not universally used
and many homes in Streatham remained unconnected until the 1950s.
A further amenity, which was refined by "suburbia",
was the postal service which, by 1914, was offering local residents
and businesses seven deliveries and twelve collections a day.
The opening of a new Postal Sorting Office in Prentis Road during
1905 facilitated this. Complementing the local postal services
was the new telephone service. This was established, albeit
on a small scale, following the opening of the Streatham telephone
exchange in Mitcham Lane during 1892. Within a matter of a few
years the popularity of the telephone saw the National Telephone
Company opening a number of "call rooms" in Streatham.
By the outbreak of World War 1 over twenty such rooms had become
available for public use.
The London and Brush
Provincial Electric Lighting Company
This company have now completed plans for laying down
mains for supplying road-lamps and introducing the light
into shops and dwelling-houses, the current being ready
for use, it is hoped, at an early date. As regards this
neighbourhood, the main wires are to he laid in Tooting-bec-road
and Common, Streatham-lane, Streatham High-road, and Streatham
and Brixton Hills, with as many branch routes as may be
found necessary. The company's engineer and manager, Mr.
A. J. Lawson, invites residents desiring to obtain a supply
of current for lighting next winter to make early application
to him at his office, 49, Queen Victoria street, E.C.
For illuminating purposes the price will be 7d. per Board
of Trade unit, or about one-fifth of a penny per lamp
per hour, which is equivalent to gas at 3s. 4d. per thousand
cubic feet. How this charge will compete with that of
2s. 3d. per thousand cubic feet made by the South Metropolitan
Gas Company yet remains to he seen.
The Streatham News, 11 August 1894
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A History of Suburban Streatham
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