Number 20 Brixton Road in Kelly’s Directories 1881 to 1928

Number 20 can be seen above in this modern photograph.

In the photograph above taken in 1912 Number 20 is at the far left, at the time an electricity sub-station.

YearNameBusiness
1881J HintonDraper
1886//
1888J HintonDraper
1889J HintonDraper
1890J HintonDraper
1891Edward DrakeDraper
1892Edward DrakeDraper
1894London Tramway Co. Ltd (Depot)
1895London Tramway Co. Ltd (Depot)
1896London Tramway Co. Ltd (Depot)
1897London Tramway Co. Ltd (Depot)
1898London Tramway Co. Ltd (Depot)
1903London County Council Tramways Electricity Station
1904London County Council Tramways Sub-station
1909London County Council Tramways Sub-station
1915/
1920/
1923/
1926London County Council Tramways Sub-station
1928London County Council Tramways Sub-station

I have user ‘Puddy-tat’ from the wonderful Urban75 Brixton forum to thank for the below post I found on a thread about the Brixton Trams.

He says ’20 Brixton Road, Kennington, is worth a mention.

This was (in cable tram days) a small depot (for one or two trams), stables, and office, as well as housing cable tensioning equipment. (described as having a central arch for the tram, an entrance for horses on one side of the centre, and an entrance for staff on the other)

Today, the building is an Italian Catholic Mission Centre.

The full thread is here.

0 Responses to Number 20 Brixton Road in Kelly’s Directories 1881 to 1928

  1. puddy_tat says:

    Thanks for the mention.

    while i was researching something else on the web recently, I found the ‘cable car guy’ website which has a piece on the Brixton Hill cable trams – http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccuk.html#brx

    The photograph taken in horse / cable tram days (which can be enlarged) shows 20 Brixton Road, the frontage of which appears much the same as now. Until now, I’d not been sure whether the present structure was the previous depot, or built on the site of it. This seems to make it clear that the present building was the depot from cable tram days.

    The definitive history of the London County Council Tramways (E R Oakley, 1989) lists what rolling stock and sites transferred from the London Tramways Co to the Council in 1899 (and mentions that 3,808 horses were involved in the sale) – this lists 3 ‘gripper’ cars being allocated to 20 Brixton Road at that date.

  2. Sam Roberts says:

    Thank you for documenting the occupants of this building over time. I am researching the fading advertisement for Cravan A cigarettes on the side which proclaims “for your throat’s sake, smoke”. It isn’t clear how it ended up there, but possible that the wall was locally solicited by the tobacconist a little further along at number 6.

    In case it is of interest, there is a photograph on this page of number 20 showing the wall I’m interested in largely covered with ivy: https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?key=SXsiUCI6eyJ2YWx1ZSI6IlwiQnJpeHRvbiBSb2FkXCIiLCJvcGVyYXRvciI6MSwiZnV6enlQcmVmaXhMZW5ndGgiOjMsImZ1enp5TWluU2ltaWxhcml0eSI6MC43NSwibWF4U3VnZ2VzdGlvbnMiOjMsImFsd2F5c1N1Z2dlc3QiOm51bGx9LCJGIjoiZXlKMElqcGJNVjE5In0&pg=88&WINID=1607102668226#ccHOqwIFz5wAAAF2LAN2mQ/88948

  3. puddy_tat says:

    Re-visiting this –

    Found this today (as usual, found it while looking for something else) but Lambeth archives has a 1929 plan to turn ground floor and basement in to a temperance billiard hall.

    https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/tram-station-temperance-hall-20-brixton-road-kennington/

    Not sure if this plan came to anything – it’s not listed in 1930s phone directories under Temperance Billiard Halls Ltd, but there may have been other companies / organisations out there.

    LCC Tramways history (E R Oakley) says this site was replaced as a sub-station in 1912 by new site at Vauxhall, which contradicts the 1926/28 directory entries.

    I have also seen reference to the LCC / London Transport Tramways having an telephone exchange (they had a private telephone system) in Kennington, but not been able to trace just where.

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