Was Electric Avenue ever called anything else?

[editor]

I got sent this question and wondered if anyone knew for sure.

I don't think there was a road there before - this 1864 map doesn't show anything, so I suspect it was created as Electric Avenue - but does anyone know for sure?

 

[Santino]

Steam Street

 

[existentialist]

I got sent this question and wondered if anyone knew for sure.

I don't think there was a road there before - this 1864 map doesn't show anything, so I suspect it was created as Electric Avenue - but does anyone know for sure?

I don't have a source, but I am sure I remember reading that it was built at the same time, and named for, the railway...

 

[sealion]

I don't have a source, but I am sure I remember reading that it was built at the same time, and named for, the railway...

It was one of the first streets to have electric lighting, hence the name. The train station opened in 1862 and Electric avenue was built in the 1880's. It doen't seem to have had a name before that, or not at least one that was recorded if there ever was one.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I don't have a source, but I am sure I remember reading that it was built at the same time, and named for, the railway...

I think that source is mistaken.

1894 map shows Electric Lane / Electric Avenue - the LBSCR didn't electrify the south london line (London Bridge - Peckham Rye - Victoria) until 1909.

Likewise, the LCC didn't start electrifying tram routes until 1903 (and Brixton was not the first area to be done).

"The Buildings of England - London, South", Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner on Electric Avenue :

Electric Avenue, of 1885, a tall terrace busily decorated with pedimented windows, and with glazed canopies over the pavement market, curving round a narrow street. It was one of the first London streets lit by electricity."

Old-Maps - the online repository of historic maps - home page has a wider range of maps than the NLS collection, but can't get anything out of it at the moment (it's like that sometimes).

Streets did get their names changed - there were occasional tidying-up exercises on the part of local councils and the post office to remove similar / duplicate street names, but would be a bit hurried if it had happened between 1885 and 1894

 

[Puddy_Tat]

And now this has got me wondering who generated the electricity and where they did it - at that time, it would have been coal fired.

The Electric Lighting Act 1882 seems to have been the first attempt to regulate electricity supply.

Some councils (or vestries before the metropolitan boroughs happened in the 1890s) set up their own generating stations but I can't trace anything in Lambeth. And according to the 'London Inheritance' blog which I've found pretty reliable, St Pancras Vestry was the first in London to start generating, in 1891.

The 'engine house' marked on the 1894 map (off Atlantic Road) may or may not be anything to do with it - could be something to do with water pumping.

 

[editor]

I suspect the whole street was developed as a showcase shopping experience with the new-fangled electricity adding to its attractiveness and marketability.

 

[classicdish]

It is possible that Electric Lane (which seems to have predated Electric Avenue) was renamed from Back Lane. See here: A-Z New to Old Street names

 

[editor]

It is possible that Electric Lane (which seems to have predated Electric Avenue) was renamed from Back Lane. See here: A-Z New to Old Street names

I wonder if Back Lane was only the small strip from Coldharbour Lane leading to Rushcroft Rd which was renamed Ardville Road the same year (1912)?

 

[sealion]

It is possible that Electric Lane (which seems to have predated Electric Avenue) was renamed from Back Lane. See here: A-Z New to Old Street names

Thats a great link.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Electric Avenue, a purpose-built shopping street, curves gracefully between Brixton Road and Atlantic Road. It was laid out between 1888 and 1891 and was one of the first streets in England to be lit by electricity; it was originally to have been called Palmerston Avenue.

presumably as in Viscount Palmerston, former PM

from Lambeth's Brixton Conservation Area Statement 2012 (on the interweb as a PDF)

if that's correct, then it was Electric Avenue from date of being built.

It is possible that Electric Lane (which seems to have predated Electric Avenue) was renamed from Back Lane. See here: A-Z New to Old Street names

yes - same document says that - and previously Beehive Place

Thats a great link.

indeed. Think I may have found it once before but forgot to bookmark it

 

[madolesance]

I suspect the whole street was developed as a showcase shopping experience with the new-fangled electricity adding to its attractiveness and marketability.

So, something similar to Pop Brixton?

 

[editor]

So, something similar to Pop Brixton?

I doubt if they were given the land rent-free from the council and I doubt if they still managed to record colossal losses too.

Pop really are very good at incompetence. Victorian entrepreneurs would have shit 'em!

 

[T & P]

So, something similar to Pop Brixton?

Gaslights too mainstream.

 

[alcopop]

So, something similar to Pop Brixton?

Ha ha

 

[mojo pixy]

I had heard anecdotally that Electric Avenue was indeed built with electric lights, was named for this and was indeed the first fully electric-lit street in England. I have tended to believe this ever since and I'm happy it turns out the person who told me this was right and I haven't been believing a lie all this time.

Bloke in a pub was right. Good on him.

 

[Gramsci]

Around same time the then new Savoy theatre was light by electricity.

Savoy Theatre Electric Lighting

I go by this plaque several times a week.

The use of electricity was big step forward. Cleaner and better than gaslight.

Now electric lights are taken for granted. It as a massive change.

I actually remember when I was growing up in Plymouth in seventies the old couple at top of house still had gas lighting.

Electric lighting was progressive step forward. One of those little inventions that imo have great social and cultural importance.

It must have been a wonder for people to walk in shopping area with electric lights.

 

[editor]

Around same time the then new Savoy theatre was light by electricity.

Savoy Theatre Electric Lighting

I go by this plaque several times a week.

The use of electricity was big step forward. Cleaner and better than gaslight.

Now electric lights are taken for granted. It as a massive change.

I actually remember when I was growing up in Plymouth in seventies the old couple at top of house still had gas lighting.

Electric lighting was progressive step forward. One of those little inventions that imo have great social and cultural importance.

although some complained at the time about the harshness of electric light compared to gas lamps and - of course - there's still plenty of gas lighting to be seen in London, especially in the royal parks.

Pic of the day: the wonderful gas lamps of Hyde Park, London

 

[Gramsci]

although some complained at the time about the harshness of electric light compared to gas lamps and - of course - there's still plenty of gas lighting to be seen in London, especially in the royal parks.

Pic of the day: the wonderful gas lamps of Hyde Park, London

I see those.

Light in cities like London is imo whole cultural issue.

Reminded me of this programme I need to listen to again. About cities and light

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Light and Dark

As aside I was in West end a few years ago when there was power cut. No street lights. No office lights. Interesting experience. London felt totally different.

 

[editor]

I see those.

Light in cities like London is imo whole cultural issue.

Reminded me of this programme I need to listen to again. About cities and light

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Light and Dark

As aside I was in West end a few years ago when there was power cut. No street lights. No office lights. Interesting experience. London felt totally different.

Berlin still has loads of gas lamps.

The wonderful gas lamps of Berlin – the world’s largest gas lighting network