House in Amberley Road - Anyone know the astronomer?

[Lois]

Does anyone know who had this house built?

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O5967 ... our-jones/

[Lois]

I emailed Steve Grindlay regarding this image.

Steve could shed no more light than I on the building in this painting but he did point out that we did indeed have an important amateur astronomer in the area, a George Frederick Chambers, who did have a house built for him in 1865.
However, this house, Lethen Grange, was on the corner of Lawrie Park Avenue and Lawrie Park Gardens and looks nothing at all like this painting! But it does seem likely he is the astronomer from the description.

It is obvoulsy extremely unlikely that should a property this unusual have survived until at least 1942 in the area, there would not be other references and images of the building.

It seems to me that the most likely cause of this mystery is that either the artist, Barbara Jones, or someone managing the ‘Recording Britain’ project have made an error by somehow mixing up the descriptions of two of the paintings, or maybe just recording the same description on two of the paintings. I cannot believe that a deliberate hoax would have taken place in a project such as this.

So is there, somewhere, a painting of Lethen Grange with the description that belongs to the painting here? And for that matter is Barbara Jones the actual artist of this painting? It does definitely look like her work.

[Lois]

The building was here!

The evidence was discovered by Gareth Hughes, a super sleuth who is on a group called Windmill Hoppers on Facebook of which I am also a member.

Image from Britain from Above:

aerial image of the mystery house.jpg

And it survived way longer than 1942 because Gareth informed me that it's marked as no7 on the 1953 OS map!

So Mr Beeton lived there Steve!
Question now is whether there ever was another astronomer?
Was the observatory dome on top of the tower just for decoration?
Or was Mr Beeton also an amateur astronomer?

Whichever is true it is amazing that there are no other images of this building that was still here in 1953!

[Lois]

I went along to the Sydenham Girls School and spoke to the librarian, Elizabeth Cooper, who kindly found a large photograph of all the pupils at the school which had the house in the background.

I invited Steve along and we went to see the photograph which she is going to try to get copied for us.

Yesterday I received an email from Elizabeth with this better image of the house scanned from the 125th Anniversary school magazine. She is going to try to find the original photograph.

7 Amberley Road.jpg

[Charleville]

Hello - I'm a newbie here!

I see this topic has rested for several years but I wonder if this photograph from my family collection might contain some pointers and regenerate interest on the subject.

This shot was taken c.1963 from the rear of 15 Charleville Circus. There is a small clue when you compare this photo with the Barbara Jones watercolour – look at the spire tucked behind the right-hand chimney stack, it looks a close match to that in the illustration. Also bear in mind that we are viewing the back of the building so architectural decoration may have been more sparse. I do however, like the arched window frames in the centre and the right angled wall protruding on the corner.

As a child I would gaze from this window overlooking our garden in Charleville Circus, so I would be fascinated to discover more about this building in this view and what happened to such a historical gem.

Reassessed period of photo: winter 1965/66 see note in later post

[Charleville]

I found the previously mentioned 1946 aerial photograph at:
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EAW000568

You need to register (for free) in order to zoom in close and quite clearly see the house number 7 Amberley Road (Amberley Grove).

The 1952 map view mentioned is also available online at:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102906493

I hope this helps any future researchers.

Steve

[Charleville]

I'm attaching another photo taken from the garden of 15 Charleville Circus – that's me in the foreground when I could move quick enough to create a blur for the camera.

There is a small structure, not unlike a glass house on the roof at the building at the back. When compared with a previous photo I posted on this page the same structure had gone. This leads me to reassess the date on the original winter scene picture as 1965/66 and not 1963. It would also make sense that we would have had greater access to take the photo later on when tenants on the upper floors had left, before my parents sold the house and we moved a few months later in April 1966.

This is a small detail but it might be crucial to future researchers.

I still find it quite remarkable that such rare historic evidence can be found in a humble family 'snapshot'. I hope it inspires others to take a closer look at their family albums.

[Charleville]

An extremely clear aerial photo taken with onscreen zoom to view Amberley Road and other local details.

Historic England Aerofilms Collection
Crystal Palace Park looking towards Upper Sydenham, Penge, from the south-west, 1964

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-b ... /EAW126003

[Group51]

Fascinating. This above shows the Bromley council flats. So just a few years before Amberley Grove was all demolished for council housing in 1970. Premuably derelict?