Brixton

Brixton is an interesting area. It was a tiny village of little significance in the early 19th century. However, it expanded rapidly as the 19th century progressed as it became a commuter town for the middle classes, being so close to London. It was a prosperous middle class suburb up until World War II. My elderly neighbours when I first moved to London remembered it as a posh area. But of course by then it had declined appallingly with ghastly estates and rioting by the time I came to London. 

But now, following on from the likes of Notting Hill and Islington, it is rapidly gentrifying. You won't notice this in the immediate vicinity of the station, but if you come to areas surrounding Brockwell Park you can see why the middle classes have moved in. That  old Victorian middle class housing stock remains and is highly desirable. So it is now taking off again.

These are among the older remnants of Brixton from when it was a village. They date from the 1820s and would have housed workers for Brockwell Hall. In my guide book they are just titled "pretty cottages", which is fair enough.

The late Victorian Post Office survives too, although now on the edge of a particularly depressing estate

But the truly surprising survivor is the Brixton Windmill. Of all the places you would least expect to find a windmill, Brixton must be up there. But here it is. It dates from 1816, and finally ceased grinding flour in the 1930s, but somehow survived and is now of course run by a "friends" charity, just like so many cemeteries and open spaces in London. Basically there are always some people who care and now they actually get in and look after these places.

Corpus Christi Catholic Church

Rush Common, a rather narrow strip of park running parallel to a busy road.

Now this imposing edifice is St Matthew's Church, like St Luke's in West Norwood (see earlier entry) a "Waterloo Church", built following the Napoleonic Wars in the Greek Revival style for the burgeoning local population of the  newly created middle class suburb.

As you can see it is a pretty huge edifice, but of course the Church of England is not what it once was and the congregation for this vast church has naturally dwindled to negligible size. So it has had to look to other uses, such as being a nightclub.

But what most amused me is that it is also the some time venue for the Torture Garden. If that doesn't mean anything to you, it is apparently Europe's largest fetish club. I just love the thought that people now literally prefer to be tied up and lashed naked with leather whips, than sit through a church service! Surely when it comes to that point you would give up flogging a dead horse wouldn't you? But I understand the Church of England soldiers on...

This is Lambeth Town Hall from the Edwardian period. Sign of metropolitan pride.

The Budd Memorial

The Tate Library.

And the bust of Sir Henry Tate who sponsored the library (and after whom the Tate Gallery is named, it starting with his own art collection).

And the foundation stone of the Brixton Theatre. Sadly that is all that is left of it after being destroyed in the Blitz.

The Ritzy Cinema, apparently the second oldest picture house in London

 So all that surrounds Windrush Square. Given the surroundings it should be another fine London square, but modern planners have contrived somehow to make it one of the bleakest spots around. It seems attractive only to alcoholics and drug users, but maybe one might say there are not enough places made for that particular section of the population. It should be the heart of Brixton, but instead it is just a concrete hole in the middle of it. And I guess Lambeth has spent enough money making it this bad so won't want to spend more undoing it.