This is Portobello Street (formerly called Bolton Street) in February 1945. You won’t find it on maps today.
Your eye is drawn to the horse and cart, still commonplace in London at that time. But look up from the cart at the almost entirely torn down political poster on the wall where the big caption “Labour gets things done” survives. This was of course months before the election of 1945 which resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour party.
Housing developments in Kensington were not a direct result of the election. There was a huge impetus for new housing after the damage and dereliction left by the war. One typical development was the plan to demolish the whole of Portobello Street to make way for a new housing estate.
This map, overlaid with the new buildings shows the extent of the new estate.
This photograph has been marked up by someone in the planning office. It was another four years before the site was cleared and looked like this, in1949:
Below is the view looking roughly west with Lonsdale Road at the right of the picture :
The building work has only just begun and just like with modern projects the builder’s hut is the first thing to be constructed. This one looks rather more substantial than the prefab units of today.
Looking at the site from another angle you can see the tower of the Convent of Our Lady of Sion, now converted for residential use and known as Thornberry Court, and nearer to the building site the classical front of the Methodist Chapel, now demolished. The buildings on the other side of Westbourne Grove have also been demolished. This section of Westbourne Grove was originally called Archer Street.
In the picture below you can see more of Lonsdale Road and Colville School. That section of street used to be called Buckingham Terrace (and before that Western Terrace), and the school known as Buckingham Terrace School.
Here is a slightly different view of the same side of the new estate, showing the entrance to the school and what looks like a removals van.
The tower of All Saint’s Church in Talbot Road is in the distance.
This picture shows the east side of the development.
The path running up to the gates is all that remains of the line of Portobello Street. Colville Street goes from left to right
Tricky isn’t it? Let’s try this one:
You can see the estate taking shape. The street in the foreground is Denbigh Street. The bus is parked at the corner of Westbourne Grove. (Not to mention the bowler hatted Man from the Ministry standing there). Colville Street carries on from Denbigh Street and Lonsdale Road can be seen in the background.
To complete the rectangle of streets we need one more view:
Portobello Road itself, running across the back of the picture with the tower of St Peter’s Church, Kensington Park Road just visible, thankfully for the modern viewer.
The previous pictures of the site were taken in May and June of 1950. The last three are all from July of that year.
The housing blocks get taller.
A number 15 bus can be seen on Westbourne Grove.
Here is another view of that corner. The estate is almost finished.
If this selection of camera angles, street name changes , demolished and still existing buildings has left you confused let’s take a final look back at 1945. Below is a view looking down Portobello Road in 1945.
Once again the planner’s pen is at work marking the end of Portobello Street.
A woman stands on the corner looking down the street perhaps unaware that everything behind her is marked for destruction, and new housing.
Postscript
As you can imagine although this post is economical in terms of words it had a high level of difficulty as far as accurate captions were concerned. Local resident and historian Maggie Tyler helped me with orientation and identification of streets and churches but any errors are my own. Current and former residents of Portobello Court may spot things I’ve missed. Corrections and comments are welcome.
I had intended to include a 1970s picture from our photo survey to show the completed building but when I looked at the set of John Rogers photos of the Kensington part of Westbourne Grove I decided they deserve a post of their own, which will be coming soon.
February 24th, 2015 at 4:38 pm
Thank you so much for these wonderful historic photos of childhood and youth. I just loved it as I remember so much of this.
I went to Colville School, played in the lifts of the new flats (being erected in your photos) opposite the school and on many of the bomb sites in the area.
The last photo above shows the lady with here back to Portobello Rd and there was the tuck shop where we bought our sweets.
Happy, happy childhood memories of a time gone forever!
Thanks again.
Maria
December 22nd, 2015 at 11:27 pm
Hi , Very interesting photos and history. I have very little knowledge of London .I am trying to locate Archer mews off Portobello Road for Family reseach.im guessing it was demolished. Any information or snippets will be gladly received
Phillis
December 24th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Phillis
Archer Mews was apparently where Longlands Court is now. it was on the LCC list of streets from 1901 to 1955.
Dave
January 5th, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Thank you for this article. It’s lovely to see my flat in mid build.
There are 2 minor errors in the street naming – it’s Denbigh Road and Colville Road.
January 21st, 2017 at 3:51 am
I was at Colville from 1958 -1964? My mum started as a dinner lady in 1959 when my middle brother joined and by the time my youngest bro was there (1963?) she was school secretary. Decades later he met his wife who lived in (the new) Portobello Court. The two school sweet shops were Bofreds and Nichols, just around the corner in Portobello Road.
Dave Frodsham.
February 14th, 2017 at 2:55 pm
Hi Dave, Lesley here Ann’s long term friend. I remember the flats and also went to Colville.