Then and now: St Agnes Place

[Onket]

It's quiet cos there was no-one in there to evict.

Looks like the buildings will be knocked down-

Given the state of the building, it is likely it will have to be demolished.

From here- http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/NR/exeres/E13C4EEF-5253-4F4C-BFEC-E977219EA9FA.htm under 'Friday 13 April'.

In my opinion the loss of the buildings is the real shame here.

 

[aurora green]

The rasta temple on St Agnes Place is being evicted right now.

I've just been past on my bike on my way to work and there's plenty of coppers, riot vans etc and the road is sealed off. I managed to get quite close round the back through the park. Unlike when the evictions of the other squats happened over a year ago, there's virtually no-one about, apart from an army of coppers and other workmen - who appeared to be plumbers and electricians. I'm guessing they are going to cut the utility supplies in advance of demolishing the remaining houses. The last three properties are huge terraced three-storey victorian houses, beautiful buildings. If they're knocked down, it's fucking disgrace and a total waste of decent housing. No doubt they will be replaced by bland flats.....but I expect the site to stay empty for the time being...just like the rest of the road has been empty for the last 18 months.

Don't think the site'll stay empty for that long though...
The council just were waiting for a way to evict the temple without any upset.
Now they can cash in.
Expect "luxury flats" very soon

 

[newbie]

In my opinion the loss of the buildings is the real shame here.

I agree completely. They were fantastic buildings with brilliant gargoyles and Lambeth should have de-squattered them and done them up years ago. They did it with loads of streets all across the borough by offering shortlife or hard-to-let places, or by coming to agreement with the residents and granting them tenancies. There was no reason why that shouldn't have happened in St Agnes, although the untogetherness of successive generations of squatters didn't help.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Tea and sympathy

The coppers have had their catering van parked outside for the past few weeks to service the officers who seem to be stationed there 24 hrs. I guess the police presence was for protection rather than intelligence gathering, with the police catering van to deter any would-be (alleged) drug purchasers.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Going, going, gone....... (

The "rasta temple" on St Agnes Place has now been demolished, as these pictures show. None of the original four storey victorian houses on that road exist anymore now, save for a small row of posher-looking ones further up the road that appear to have been built slightly later than the old squatted houses. The only signs of the previous character of the street are the railings painted red, gold and green.

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

Anyone know what the plans are for that bit of land? Flats I guess. It even looks like the new flats on that road are going to be demolished too...the ground floor is all boarded up. I guess they have to evict those people as well before they can start work proper.

 

[editor]

None of the pictures are appearing for me.
If you like, you could send me copies and I'll make a page for the Brixton 'squats' section on urban75?

Be good to have St Agnes properly documented in the Brixton section...

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Hmmm, not sure why that is . Here's the links.

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

I'll email you the pics as well, ed, happy for you to use them for whatever if you credit them to me! Cheers.

 

[editor]

I'm getting 'forbidden' errors for those links!

My email is mike - at -- urban75 .com

 

[Onket]

They aren't working for me either.

Sad that the old buildings have gone but that area is certainly a nicer place to live now the 'temple' has gone. They really should have kept the old buildings & renovated them.

Are those newer flats squatted too then? I have no problem with that building being knocked down as it's a fucking eyesore. I strongly suspect that whatever gets built in place of the lost buildings will also be an eyesore but I would be happy with new buildings in the style of the older ones.

I did call a number that was displayed on the door of the 'temple' after the raid but before it was levelled, it was Lambeth Council and the woman didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I left my tel number & my email address asking for information but no-one ever got back to me.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

ok, third time lucky for the pictures.

http://www.pbase.com/bicyclerepairman/st_agnes_place

 

[Bob]

They aren't working for me either.

Sad that the old buildings have gone but that area is certainly a nicer place to live now the 'temple' has gone. They really should have kept the old buildings & renovated them.

Are those newer flats squatted too then? I have no problem with that building being knocked down as it's a fucking eyesore. I strongly suspect that whatever gets built in place of the lost buildings will also be an eyesore but I would be happy with new buildings in the style of the older ones.

I did call a number that was displayed on the door of the 'temple' after the raid but before it was levelled, it was Lambeth Council and the woman didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I left my tel number & my email address asking for information but no-one ever got back to me.

As I understand it the reason the council demolished them was that years of not being properly maintained meant that they were structurally unsound. Personally I'd rather they were properly rennovated since they'd have been much nicer than your average quality of new flat in Lambeth. But I can see that it could have been more expensive to retrofit things like good insulation than to start from scratch.

 

[zenie]

Anyone know what the plans are for that bit of land? Flats I guess. It even looks like the new flats on that road are going to be demolished too...the ground floor is all boarded up. I guess they have to evict those people as well before they can start work proper.

I’m not sure that those newer flats on the opposite side of the road from the Rasta house are squatted, I think what’d be more likely is that as people have moved out the council have boarded them up as they will be demolished when the building work starts on the sports and leisure centre and the affordable housing/housing association/private sales apartments are built. I’ve seen the plans and it looks fuckin horrible

Bearing in mind the first load of squats were knocked down in 2005, I think it’s disgusting that it’s taken so long to do any kind of work on the site.

 

[editor]

I've posted up a feature here: http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/st-agnes-place.html

It took me bleeding ages to research it all, but please post up any errors/missing info.

The Brixton section has now grown so much it's becoming very unwieldy to navigate, so I really do need to redesign the thing soon!

 

[Onket]

Bearing in mind the first load of squats were knocked down in 2005,

I'm sure some went before then. There are two patches of grassed over land next to the street which there must have been houses on at some point.

There's some info on here somewhere- http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1

 

[zenie]

I'm sure some went before then. There are two patches of grassed over land next to the street which there must have been houses on at some point.

There's some info on here somewhere- http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1

I meant in recent years with regards to the new development - they were knocked down because the land was being sold to a private developer.

 

[Onket]

Ok, but they are still patches of land that are owned by Lambeth which used to have (badly needed) housing on them which was knocked down & have not redeveloped since way before 2005.

 

[Crispy]

I’ve seen the plans and it looks fuckin horrible

Any idea if these are on the net at all?

 

[Onket]

I've not had any planning notification through my door, I'm sure I haven't.

 

[Onket]

Just a quick bump to plug this thread- http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=241784

 

[Leon]

Incidently, the trial of the Rastas arrested in the raid last year has just started.

 

[zenie]

Incidently, the trial of the Rastas arrested in the raid last year has just started.

What were they finally charged with? Posession of a firearm? All other charges were dropped weren't they?

 

[whitedove]

my ex husband used to live in one of them houses on st agnes place.he was one of 12 kids,bet they'd be worth a few million all done up and sold off now,

 

[Onket]

They aren't going to be done up.

 

[Onket]

Has anything been built yet? I've not been round that way for ages.

 

[cuppa tee]

Has anything been built yet? I've not been round that way for ages.

The road has been straightened and a kids playground has been built, not open yet tho' despite closure of the play project and one o'clock club
to make way for this ............
http://www.quadrant-construction.co.uk/projects/view/st-agnes-place

 

[Onket]

Yuk.

 

[Rushy]

Yuk.

Past aside - I quite like it. The proportions in image 2 are pleasingly Georgian and very "London". I also like the scale of the two storey brick with another glazed storey set back on the roof.

 

[editor]

Here's how the street looked last week.

 

[Dan U]

i've walked down that street in some right states

Onket

can't believe they still haven't built any housing on the other end.

 

[cuppa tee]

Here's how the street looked last week.

View attachment 62156

Tbf that is about 25% of the street..........
The taller houses are the same style as the whole street was down as far as the yard, iirc they were taken over by a housing association before the final evictions