Tryon Street was originally a footpath known locally as Butterfly Alley which separated two famous nurseries: John Colville and Thomas Davey.
Tryon Street, as a small laneway, appears on maps after 1800.
Tryon Street was originally called Keppel Street and was renamed in 1913 after Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. Sir George was drowned in the ’Victoria’ in 1893 after a collision during Fleet manoeuvres.
After Edict of Fontainebleau (the revocation of the Treaty of Nantes) in 1685 many Huguenot French gardeners came over as refugees and established a number of nursery gardens in and around the Kings Road. John Colville’s nursery beside Tryon Street opened in 1793 and was reputed to have introduced the chrysanthemum from China.
By 1830 tea gardens, nurseries and market gardens lined the King’s Road.
