South London - Streatham High Road Prior to 1904

            The Postcard

A postcard published by J. Beagles & Co. of London E.C.  The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909). 

The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.

The card was posted in Streatham on Saturday the 24th. December 1904 to:

Miss V. Crampton,
c/o Miss O'Meara,
Southend College,
Essex.

The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

"Every good wish for
Christmas & the New
Year,
from Amy B. V. Harley".

The Location of the Photograph

The image on the postcard does not in fact show Norbury as stated - there is no High Road Norbury. 

The scene actually shows a southern portion Streatham. The photograph was taken about a third of a mile north of Norbury Railway Station, and at this point the main London to Brighton road (the A23) has changed its name from London Road, Norbury to Streatham High Road. The photographer's camera is pointing north towards London.

To be more precise about the location, the near-end of the terrace of tall buildings on the left is at the junction of Glencairn Road and Streatham High Road. If you keep going north for another third of a mile, you get to the south west corner of Streatham Common.

The scene looks totally different today - the premises of the Horticultural Builder A. A. Overend and all the other houses on the right have long gone; they have been replaced by a series of rather ugly utilitarian blocks of flats. 

On the left, the brick walls and railings that presumably enclosed front gardens of houses are also long gone - there are now flats on that side of the road as well.

The whole area now has a very much more crowded urban feel, with a very heavy flow of cars, buses and commercial vehicles travelling along the road in both directions. 

The London Coliseum

So what else happened on the day that Amy posted the card?

Well, the 24th. December 1904 marked the opening of the London Coliseum.

The London Coliseum is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. When it opened, its full name was the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties.

The theatre was designed by the theatrical architect Frank Matcham for the impresario Oswald Stoll. Their ambition was to build the largest and finest music hall, described as the "People's Palace of Entertainment" of its age.

At the time of construction, the Coliseum was the only theatre in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of the house, and was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve installed on its stage. The theatre has 2,359 seats, making it the largest theatre in London.

The Coliseum was used for variety shows, musical comedies, and stage plays for many years. It then served as a cinema screening films in the Cinerama format between 1963 and 1968.

Sadler's Wells

The Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved into the building in 1968. 

The Sadler's Wells company changed its name to the English National Opera in 1974, and today the London Coliseum is used primarily for opera as well as being the London home of the English National Ballet.

Taken on: December 7, 2020

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Sets appears in: • Norbury, Streatham and Brixton

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