Polaroid 1977 (Type 1076)

The house has changed very little. The enormous Lime tree is still there. The dreadful louvred windows downstairs have been replaced with the proper sash windows (as upstairs). Of course, we don't have this double glazing thing so huge quantities of coal have to be burnt to keep the house remotely tepid in Winter. In 1977 we had a gas boiler that ran 3 radiators and the hot water but that only warmed the hall and the bathroom. The rest was open coal grates and paraffin heaters. I have of course updated the house a bit but we still burn about 3/4 tonne of coal each winter. I did a cost/benefit analysis on double glazed sash windows and the results were not good. The Local Authority are extremely fussy and will not even allow painting (even the same colour) without planning permission so custom made double glazed, period sash windows are absolutely out of the question. Of course it is fine for the Local Authority to give permission to demolish whatever they choose........

Now *that's* a proper house. Compared to modern construction, this is so refreshing. 'Sad to hear the heartburn the local authorities inject. Wisdom isn't their strong suite here either. 'Glad you have the image. Thx for posting.

No problem HiHo. You have seen this with the Zeiss Tessar etc. Same house. What might be slightly interesting is the rendering of colours in black and white (although this image has aged to a rather pleasant sepia tone). The window frames are white in the recent photographs I have posted but in this photograph they are actually green (a more traditional Victorian colour as it happens, bright white is generally lead oxide in old paint and was not used much until the Edwardian period). The render is not white either but a blue/grey. Absolutely vile as my mother recalls!

Yes, I was not being entirely silly when I said built to last in another thread. It is fortunate that we imported a great deal of the best materials from our vast empire. In the case of my house it was pitch pine for pretty much every timber form skirting boards, floor boards, window frames, joists, roofing deck etc. Pitch pine is now rare but is a wonderful timber and I believe it came from Canada in the case of my house. In fact, we had to match slates for about 20% of the roof when we re-roofed a few years ago. They were not Welsh (as most are) so we had those imported from Canada to match.

Originally the house had carved barge boards and better chimneys but thanks to a 1000 Lb Luftwaffe bomb opposite, which destroyed half the street, it no longer does. I did a project at school on German bomb hits. In fact, the Germans bombed the next street in the WW1 as well from Zeppelin. It is a miracle the house still stands.

Svenedin, your knowledge of the history of your home & area make the images all the more rich. I love it.

Thank you HiHo. I must post a photo of my favourite brick in this house. A cat walked over the wet bricks and there is a delightful paw print. What is even better is that I know where the bricks came from (clay pits). Apparently, the business went bankrupt decades before my house was even built but the bricks sat fired in stacks until someone bought them. They are a peculiar orange and quite unlike any local buildings. They came from near Redhill. In early English there was no word "orange" until the fruit was imported from the European continent. This is why we have the "Robin Redbreast" which is so obviously orange. There was no word for it and the term has stuck.

Great vintage pic, and I love the back story with it. When was the house built?

1904 so in the UK we would call it Edwardian.

It is such a trip to see your home before, after seeing it after. There clearly had to be so much to the story, much more so than often exists in this neophyte former colony of ours. Seriously, just in Croydon is there so much of the past that makes up who people there are today. While that really is universal, i gravitate to it as a) link to the past and b) imagining what life was like, good and bad compared to today. Your photography captures a craftsmanship that is just so hard to fathom in the time it was wrought (not so much the your Edwardian home - that has its own 20th century reality and significance that is sobering). I love the historical importance of photography of today and of the contemporary period images were made. I look forward to every gallery upload from your aware and informed eye.

@ Michael. Thank you. You are too kind.