Edwardian Trickery at Hornsey Gardens?

Comment by Ken Stevens on May 9, 2020 at 20:23

The trickery in the subject pic is insertion of the row of houses otherwise the view across to end house of Ashford Avenue, with Ally Pally "sitting" on top is correct.

Comment by Ken Stevens on May 10, 2020 at 7:59

I must confess this baffled me when I saw it a couple of years ago. I felt instinctively, from childhood years of traversing that path to & from school and Crouch End, that something didn't ring true (apart from the apparently obvious Ally Pally). Where was the Methodist Church, for example? Now I've seen it again after some considerable browsings of old Hornsey images, the discrepancy became evident. 

Having established What, the question is now Why. If the intent was to show the whole of Ally Pally, why not just "edit" the treeline down, inserting a full-width Pally, rather than matching in an oppressive bank of buildings that then doesn't look like any real life vista? My money is on a mundane reason: there was some sort of flaw in the neg/plate that needed to be concealed because materials were too expensive to waste and/or it was impracticable for the photographer to make a repeat visit.

Comment by Hugh on May 10, 2020 at 12:07

Thanks for the new photo, Ken. I think you're right. This Google Maps view gets close to approximatimg the view alighnment.

I was was wrong when I first looked at the photo. I'm not quite sure why, but when I first looked at the photo, I concluded that it was a view towards Middle Lane with Ally Pally superimposed. 

I think the two photos above are separated by at least forty years. The top one is Edwardian: the one you added, Ken, judging by the style of the boy's shorts, I think is postwar, perhpas 1950s or 60s. When resold on the internet, these photos regularly get the sepia treatment to make them look older. 

If I'm right, then the trees in front of the houses on Ashford or Oak Avenue may be those planted shortly after the park was opened in 1896. They look to be about the right height for a decade's worth of growth. That might mean that the back of the houses on Oak or Ashford Avenue are right but they look taller because the trees are shorter.

Comparing the two photos, I think that it still looks like more of Ally Pally might be visible than ought to be the case. That may be explained by camera angle. But I suspect that the Palace has been raised a bit to give it more prominence and lend the photo more drama and significance.

Comment by John D on May 10, 2020 at 15:42

I would say that the camera in the first, older, picture is higher than the second, and the angle shows more of the Palace. No trickery involved.  

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