EPW000473 ENGLAND (1920). College Road and Station Road, Harrow, 1920

This Gayton Rd. I lived here for nearly 4 years 1968-72 in rooms in one the big houses. Sadly for me, it's just off the bottom right hand corner of this photo! They have all gone now - replaced with low rise flats with the large back gardens used for residents' parking.

It is the Coliseum, here is the frontage and you can see where the two domes would be built at either corner.

The triangle formed by Gayton Road, St John's Road and Lyon Road was, as can be seen, an area comprising commodious villas built in the arts and crafts style. In an act of planning vandalism, the majority of these villas were torn down in the early 1960s to make way for ugly council office blocks. Within ten years or so, the London Borough of Harrow would repeat the process elsewhere during the construction of their civic centre. They did not know the meaning of shame then and it is apparent that this is still the case.

Hawarden Villa. Another grand house that has long disappeared. In view of its isolation and proximity to the Baptist Church and hall, might it have been the manse to the church? This area was taken up by the expansion of the Post Office and associated sorting office. It is now the site of another massive housing development of the sort that is seeing dear old Harrow turn into Basingstoke new town. Look on and weep.

Where these lovely Edwardian villas stood, there is now rising a truly horrific high-rise development. It can be seen for miles around. What has happened to this country?

Until the rebuilding of Harrow Met Station (not completed until after WW2), the main entrance was on the Lowlands Road side, possibly in deference to visitors to the school on the hill.

Now Morrisons and flats.

Bus station is here.

Roxborough Bridge.

St Ann's shopping centre.

This building (I believe) started off in life as the Westminster bank. Oddly, on the opposite side of Station Road, were the National Bank and the Provincial Bank. The National and the Provincial amalgamated to become the National Provincial Bank (pretty obvious I guess), then they were taken over by the Westminster Bank to create today's Natwest.

This looks like a British Westinghouse camel-back electric loco used at this time by the Metropolitan Railway on their mainline loco-hauled services. There were ten locos of this type supplemented by ten British Thomson-Houston box body locos. All were replaced by the twenty Metropolitan Vickers Bo-Bo locos in about 1923. In this photo, the locomotive appears to be in a reversing siding. It had probably recently handed over a 'down' mainline service to a steam loco as, until 1925 when it moved out to Rickmansworth, Harrow was the loco changeover point.

Somertons This was Harrow's first department store and pre-dates Sopers (now Debenhams).

St Ann's Road

Gayton Hall Hotel. Now called The Junction or something equally unimaginative.

Harrow Empire & Picturedrome (Later Adams Furnishings then St. Georges Shopping Centre)

Coliseum Cinema being built, Later became the Coliseum Theatre until 1956 & by 1963 became Harrows first Supermarket. In 2013 it is Iceland store.

Kenton Road

Baptist Church, College Road

Harrow-on-the Hill Stn.

Greenhill School

Greenhill Road Harrow

Angel Road Harrow

Byron Road Harrow

Adams Furniture Store (where St George's Shopping Centre now stands). Before being used by Adams, the building started off life as another Harrow cinema.

Back of the Gaumont(?) Theatre

Royal Oak public house

Was Harrow School of Art until 1968ish