Salvation Army Citadel, Crouch End

Comment by Alan on March 27, 2023 at 16:08

Inspired by your b&w view from yesteryear,Hugh, I took this today view in colour.[Had to join two to get in same view.

The garden, became a Shell petrol station, which in turn became a car wash, which in turn has given way to this rather overwhelming new build. Capitalism at it's best/worst. MT would be so proud.

Comment by Hugh on March 27, 2023 at 21:41

Thanks for that Alan.

As the result of some recent research I've been engaged in, I've learned that the pleached limes or beech hedge, directly to the north of the Salvation Army in the old photo, marked the roadside boundary to the front garden of Alresford Lodge, a large early/mid nineteenth century Palladian style house that used to occupy the plot.

Due to the foreshortening effect of the lens used, the size of the plot is difficult to perceive in the old photo. It's easier in your version.

The boundary was about 15 feet further forward until the early part of the 20th century, when some of Alresford's land was sold to allow for the widening of Tottenham Lane. Nonetheless, even after the road-widening, the front garden was about 80 feet deep and 125 feet wide. The whole plot wasn't far off 200 feet deep. With a frontage of about sixty feet and a depth of forty, the house houses two main floors offered about 5,000 sq feet of accommodation. (The grounds of Alresford were dwarfed by those of some of its neighbours).

The house survived as a private residence until just before the War. It was then used as offices for Hornsey Journal staff for some years, until being demolished to make way for a petrol station in the early sixties, 

  

Comment by Alan on March 31, 2023 at 18:09

You're welcome Hugh. Sorry I couldn't find a group of willing locals and a  postman, to decorate my picture.

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