Ugly shop fronts

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Permalink Reply by hannah on February 13, 2008 at 20:39

If you were wearing a grey trilby, glasses and sleeveless barber, then possibly you were! He looked like he had come from the Yorkshire Dales. Yes, forgotten about these pictures, they do show exactly the sort of thing I mean. Something rather disparate about these carvings above head height which you only see if you look up, and us masses with Sainsbury's shopping bags and other modern concerns scurrying about below trying to navigate the traffic and avoid spit globules on the pavement - of different eras and all that.

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on February 13, 2008 at 20:14

Hannah wrote: Not long ago I spotted a tourist snapping away at one of the frontages and this caused me to take a closer look
- Hi Hannah.. that was no tourist, that was our one and only Huge Hugh!! lol

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Permalink Reply by Alison P on February 13, 2008 at 20:56

I completely agree with you all - there are some gorgeous buildings in this section of Green Lanes and it is quite depressing seeing the state that some of them are in.

I might be misremembering this from another post but someone said that the buildings on the non-ladder side are nicer than those on the ladder side - keep meaning to look up and see if this is true.

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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on February 13, 2008 at 21:00

"I might be misremembering this from another post but someone said that the buildings on the non-ladder side are nicer than those on the ladder side - keep meaning to look up and see if this is true" -I think, broadly speaking, that it's true.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on February 13, 2008 at 21:18

I'm sure there will be some opposing opinion. Both sides are wonderful. An interesting difference between the two sides is that the Gardens were laid out and built by JC Hill, he of Salisbury fame. The land that's now the Ladder was sold off in lots and built up by many small builders. Some built just two houses; others two dozen or more. So there is a huge diversity of styles - some of the differences are clear to see, others more hidden, with a 5-bed house looking identical to a smaller 3-bed from the street.

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Permalink Reply by Alison P on February 13, 2008 at 21:30

Thanks Hugh, that's really interesting. I had a friend who was looking at ladder houses a few years back and was really surprised at how much they varied in size. All I notice is that as you head north the gardens either side of the passage seem narrower than those at the southern end. Not that I stand on tip toes or anything, just naturally tall..

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on February 13, 2008 at 22:36

There are several gardens I'd kill for. Have a look at Google Earth and look at the gardens next to where the river runs underground, particularly on Hewitt, but also on Seymour - huge. And there's also the one on Wightman by the New River Path. (PS: Whilst you're looking you'll see that Harringay features on GE with Panoramio photos - Green Lanes in its everyday clothes - but the clickable dots only show up on close zoom.

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Permalink Reply by hannah on February 13, 2008 at 22:58

I don't know if anyone was watching the news this evening on BBC1, and the item on the Governor of the Bank of England being rather morose about interest rates and house prices. There was an aerial moving shot of what looked incredibly like the Ladder as a depiction of an archetypal residential area. I saw a shot not long ago of a Ladder road in a national newspaper for the same purpose (tell tale sign being a rather cheerful Brian Thomas sold sign). (Sorry, maybe off on a tangent here, but Hugh's comment above reminded me). Cannot help but feel a sense of pride bubbling over at the thought of our neighbourhood being a national emblem......! Before you ask, I have a life, just not this evening.

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