Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Turnpike Lane Junction 1930 vs 2018 (including Hornsey & Wood Green Synagogue)
I haven't been able to capture exactly the same shot with Google Maps as the 1930 aerial photo, but it's close enough to be able to make comparisons.
I'm always amazed at just how offset Wightman and Hornsey Park Road were until Haringey created the Wood Green Bypass. They demolished a terrace of four houses on the northeast corner of the junction to align the road.
Other things shown in the 1930 image are:
- The Grand Cinema on Wightman near the junction with Turnpike Lane
- The original layout of Turnpike Lane between Wightman and the railway bridge, with it shops and whatnot, including the Unwin Arms
- The Victorian housing on the area of land bordered by Turnpike & Wightman, including the now vanished Haringey Grove. This has been redeveloped three times since 1930.
- First in the Seventies when the road layout was changed, the Victorian housing was demolished, Dylan Thomas House was built and the commercial/light industrial units were built next to the railway.
- Again in the Nineties, when Dylan Thomas House was demolished and the current low-build housing was erected.
- Finally, the demolition of the Seventies the commercial/light industrial units and their replacement with the development currently nearing competition (the rather daftly named Altitude!)
- In addition to the foregoing, the mosque was first built and then extended.
What have I missed? This spot has my vote for the most restless piece of land in Harringay.
PS: In writing this I've just seen another copy of the top photo and I think it's an edited copy (not by me) of this one, in which case it's ©English Heritage
Tags for Forum Posts: hornsey and wood green synagogue, wightman road, wightman road alignment
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nick G-T on
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Is that a lane that runs from the railway over the New River towards Turnpike Lane?
It’s interesting that even by the 1930s gardens were not very established as one can clearly see the outline of the back garden fences.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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No idea what that is, Nick. It look likes it goes to the bridge across to the railway station. Could it be a footpath?
I think their idea of gardening was just rather different. Much more restrained - a few roses, some border plants etc.
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Yup - just checked the 1953 OS map: it's a footpath. Well spotted!
This map also shows that by the mid 20th Century, where the mosque is now, there was a synagogue.
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As per my last comment, the shape of the synagogue building on the 1953 OS map looks the same as the one in the 1930 photo. This was a temporary building erected in 1920.
This synagogue was the Hornsey and Wood Green Affiliated Synagogue. It was originally based in Queen's Parade, Green Lanes, where it was established as the Wood Green & District Hebrew Congregation. It was there from 1910-1913. It then moved to Clarence House, Tottenham Lane, where it stayed until 1920. Its final move was to Wightman Road where it erected a temporary building in 1920 and it was renamed to the Hornsey and Wood Green Affiliated Synagogue. The temporary building was replaced by a permanent one which opened in 1959. The synagogue remained there until its closure in 1987 (according to Jewish Communities and Records) (or possibly 1976, according to British History Online).
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Here's a partial picture of picture of the synagogue taken from Wightman Road at some point after it closed in 1987.
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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
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Very interesting piece. For some reason I thought that WW2 bomb damage played a part in this story.
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Sad to say, I have no recollection of what this spot was like when I moved here in 1979.
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It would have looked like the above!
The photo is described as being a photo of the Synagogue itself, but it could equally have been taken from Wightman Road and could show the hall in front of the synagogue.
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Ancestors moved originally to Wood Green in the early 1920s. My parents joined this synagogue in the late 1940s and me in 1977. I remember the building vividly from the early 1960s onwards. The "hall in front of the synagogue" was the entrance hall; to one side were cloakrooms and on the other the kitchen (which I have no recollection of ever having been used as such!). Passing through the entrance hall took you to the main hall where prayers were conducted. The separate "hall" to the side was merely a ramshackle wooden building consisting of two rooms, the front one used for children's lessons until around 1964 or so and the back one as storage. The building was pulled down before it would have fallen down. I had my barmitzvah ceremony in the synagogue in 1969. I remember there being another boy, around four years younger than me, who would have been next in line for his barmitzvah. After that, nothing. The synagogue closed in 1987 because of a lack of active membership, the majority of members (numbering only about forty men and sixty ladies) no longer living in the area (myself included by then) and the secretary, Mr Joe Cooper (such a nice man) no longer being able to run the place. The mosque that now stands on the site is, aesthetically, a fine building in my opinion.
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