Gay Furbishings And Quaint Conceits
"The romantic and beautiful side of history is perhaps too much forgotten today in the very proper desire to reach accuracy of detail and the security of the historical basis of things."So writes the great Greenwich antiquarian Professor J.E.G Montmorency in his introduction to a very wonderful book written in 1925 by Gerald Baker, Blackheath - The Story of the Royal Hundred.
The professor's right, of course, and I confess that I find myself rather more in the Baker camp than the Montmorency - it's much more fun to take the wildly romantic view of things, and write sentences such as "passing over many scenes of less importance" about the boring bits of Greenwich history than to do actual original research. Of course when it comes to books I use, I'd turn to Montmorency every time - but for the look, you can't beat the spiffing 1920s visions of Gerald Baker's slim volume.
Take that lovely picture of Nelson Road at the top of this post, for example - complete with ladies in cloche hats and fur stoles. Or this leafy vision of the Paragon, which I understand wasn't all that well at the time after WWI - though of course worse was to come before it finally reached - well, much the same view as in the drawing here - a few decades ago.
But the most fabulous thing about Blackheath... has to be the very telling advertisements inside the covers - and I thought today I'd share a few with you. They range from ads for hairdressers offering "Permanent Waving - by the best processes with the most up-to-date apparatus (fourteen separate cubicles)" through to F.A. Roberts who declare "here you will always find an attractive hat or toque suitable for any occasion..."
Some were enterprising individuals:
And some local eateries:
Sadly, I'm pretty sure that Alderton's restful cafe doesn't exist any more - but the gas showroom in Nelson Road is still here - even if it's not quite what it was:
Not sure where to see a little bit of Greenwich's early 20th Century hidden history? Try Joy - in Nelson Road. In between the saucy hen-night accouterments and sparkly gee-jaws, look for the old gas taps, the two beautiful remaining fireplaces - and, best of all, the mosaic-floored, stained glass windowed changing rooms with their wonderful, faded grandeur:
It's worth trying something on just to get a closer look...
Another survivor is the old Heathview Hotel - now the Clarendon, which, this advert implies, has stones from the old London Bridge incorporated into its walls:
I'm pretty sure Chappells are still going too, though I'd hazard a guess they wouldn't use a picture quite as - creepy - as this any more:
And what of those Quaint Conceits? Just take a look at this gay blade from Royal Parade. 
Don't you just yearn for a new New Argosy that sells rhyme sheets, Viennese ceramics and Russian dolls?
Labels: Books, Secret Greenwich
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:38
10 Comments:
That was obviously from a time when Greenwich/Blackheath were a more genteel and cultured place. Long gone are the Greenwich Antiques and Blackheath 'furbishings and conceits' gay, quaint or otherwise.
Mind you I think 'Antiques Towns' are a dying breed anyway. I used to live not far from one such place in Buckinghamshire (Olney) and in the last 20 years I think the wonderfully stuffy and 'old smelling' shops have all but gone to make way for more profitable (read 'expensive') shops.
Oh, well, that's progress.....allegedly.
Its strange I have just purchased a new Toque although it is a more workaday one and may not be right for "every" occasion.
I have only seen that word over here (Canada) and am glad F.A. Roberts were at the vanguard of fashion all those years ago.
Do you know of any Gentlemans Outfitters that would sell a Snood to go with my Toque Phantom ?
Yes - the gas showroom is still there in Nelson Road, and a couple of years ago the signboard fell off the front and the black and gold South Met. lettering was revealed. .
I'm almost sure there was still something called the Argosy in Blackheath in the 1950s. Or is this a false memory - there was a magazine of that name too.
Francis Chappell is still undertaking in Sevenoaks, I believe
Regarding the Heathview Hotel, the mediaeval London Bridge survived until 1831, although in 1758-62 the houses on the Bridge were removed and the centre two arches were replaced by a single span to improve the river flow. From the date in the advert, it would seem that stones from this modification would be in the hotel. The whole mediaeval bridge was finally replaced by a new bridge built alongside in 1831. Stone from the old bridge was used in the building of Ingress Abbey downriver at Greenhithe (see www. geograph. org. uk/photo/ 719114).
Alderton's cafe was part of a chain. The Starbucks of its day, perhaps. I wonder what the Blackheathens think of that?
Yes, Otter, the Argosy certainly still existed in the fifties, and possibly into the early sixties. It was a great place to buy art postcards - all the pocket money could stretch to in those days.
Though the Argosy moved to Montpelier Vale - perhaps after the war?
Francis Chappell still has a business in Lewisham too, right at the end of Lee High Road.
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