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Historic London

Published on June 5th, 2016

The Francis Frith Collection is home to so many wonderful historic photographs of London. Here we feature just a few of our favourites images of the streets, characters and landmarks of England's vibrant capital city at the turn of the 19th Century.

London, Elephant And Castle 1885
London, Elephant And Castle 1885. This crowded region south of the river was once the heart of #London cockney life. The Elephant and Castle, a great meeting place of thoroughfares, was termed a ‘ganglion of roads’ by Dickens in ‘Bleak House’.

Photo: London, Elephant And Castle 1885.

London, A Hokey Pokey (Ice Cream) Stall, Greenwich 1884
Children cluster round licking at the cheap ice cream from the hokey pokey stall.They look like ragged street urchins in their rumpled suits and battered boots, and were probably bought their treats in return for posing for the photographer.

Photo: London, A Hokey Pokey (Ice Cream) Stall, Greenwich 1884.

London, Lambeth Riverside c.1880
This Lambeth river frontage presents a very different face to the more refined Chelsea scene across the river. Here is a clutter of ramshackle warehouses, timber-yards and wharves. The flimsy houses were clearly not designed to face the water, for the windows are few and diminutive.The crumbling facades bring a clear impression of neglect and poverty.

Photo: London, Lambeth Riverside c.1880.

London Zoological Gardens, The Elephant 1913
The first elephants here probably arrived by 1851, according to an early drawing. Two are known to have come from Africa in 1867. Soon after this picture was taken, the elephants were given a new home on a site designed by the architect Sir Hugh Casson.

Photo: London Zoological Gardens, The Elephant 1913.

London, London Bridge c.1900
This five-arched granite structure was constructed in 1827 from the designs of John Rennie. Its excessive cost was once the talk of the city. Estimates ran as high as two and a half million pounds. In 1869 it was faced with cubes of Aberdeen granite. In the background is the imposing column of the Monument.

Photo: London, London Bridge c.1900.

London, Tower Bridge Under Construction 1890
This murky view looks west from the Pool of London towards what was to become one of the mechanical wonders of the late 19th century. Here we see the towers - 'steel skeletons clothed in stone' as described by Sir John Wolfe Barry, the architect - not yet stone clad, and the upper walkway taking shape.

Photo: London, Tower Bridge Under Construction 1890.

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