The Underground Map

The Underground Map is a project which is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying inside the M25.

Guy Fawkes and friends in Addison Avenue, W11 (around 1960)
Credit: User unknown/public domain

In a series of maps from the 1750s until the 1950s, you can see how London grew from a city which only reached as far as Park Lane into the post war megapolis we know today. There are now over 85 000 articles on all variety of locations including roads, houses, schools, pubs and palaces.

You can begin exploring by choosing a place from the dropdown list at the top left and then clicking Reset Location.

As maps are displayed, click on the markers to view location articles.

You can also view historical maps of London - click on the "pile of paper" control on the top right of a page's map to change to a particular decade.

Latest on The Underground Map...

Addison Avenue, W11

Addison Avenue runs north from Holland Park Avenue and was originally called Addison Road North. The street is named after the 17th century poet Joseph Addison who lived at Holland House. Addison was founder of The Spectator magazine.

The southern section of Addison Avenue (up to Queendale Road) was built between 1840 and 1843. Nos. 18-36 (even) are on the east side and overlook Queensdale Walk at the back. Nos. 17-35 (odd) are on the west side. They are generally two-storey houses with stuccoed façades built in pairs.

The houses were of various designs because individual plots were taken by many different builders.

Smaller houses were built closer to Holland Park Avenue.

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SEPTEMBER

2021

South Ealing
South Ealing is notable in Underground trivia for having, along with Mansion House, every vowel in its name South Ealing station was opened by the District Railway on 1 May 1883 on a new branch line from Acton to Hounslow. At that time there was no stop at Northfields and the next station on the new line was Boston Road (now Boston Manor).

Electrification of the District Railway’s tracks took place and electric trains replacing steam trains on the Hounslow branch from 13 June 1905.

The Northfields district then was just a muddy lane passing through market gardens. But housing began to be built at Northfields and in 1908, a small halt was built there.

Housing also began to appear to the north of South Ealing station - the area became rather commercial with new shops around the station.

The lines of the London Underground came under one ownership and, services from Ealing along the District Line into London having a lot of intermediate stops, it was decided to extend the Piccadilly Line parallel to the District tracks. Piccadilly...
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SEPTEMBER

2021

Boleyn Electric Theatre
The Boleyn Electric Theatre originally opened in 1910 The Boleyn Electric Theatre and the adjacent Boleyn pub were called Boleyn after a large house that had stood nearby and thought to be associated with Anne Boleyn.

Cinema architect Cecil Masey made alterations in 1929 - improvements were made to accommodate sound films and a canopy was installed over the entrance. In 1932 it was taken over by another owner and re-named the New Boleyn Electric Theatre.

In 1936 it was purchased by the Oscar Deutsch chain who decided to demolish the old Boleyn Cinema and rebuild and open as the Odeon Theatre on the same site. It was designed in an Art Deco style by cinema architect Andrew Mather and opened on 18 July 1938 with Max Miller in ’Thank Evans’. It continued as the Odeon East Ham until it was closed by the Rank Organisation in 1981.

After laying boarded up and unused for over a decade, it was taken over by an independent operator who re-opened it as the Boleyn Cinema in 1995 screening Bollywood f...
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SEPTEMBER

2021

Dukes Place, EC3A
Duke’s Place was formerly called Duke Street It a street running northwest-southeast as a continuation of Bevis Marks down to Aldgate. Originally known as Shoemaker Row, it had been renamed Duke Street by the end of the 18th century after the house of the Duke of Norfolk, which had been built by Sir T. Audley after he pulled down the priory of Holy Trinity, and which, coming to the Duke by marriage, was called Duke’s Place.

The area was an early settlement for Jews after they were permitted to enter Britain by Oliver Cromwell in 1657, resulting in the building of the Sephardic Bevis Marks Synagogue (1701) and the Ashkenazi Great Synagogue. The latter was established in 1620, subsequently rebuilt in 1766 and 1790 and was destroyed during an air-raid on 11th May 1942. The following year, a temporary structure was erected on the site and was used until 1958 when it moved to Adler Street, Whitechapel. The Adler Street synagogue closed in 1977.

Duke Street was renamed Duke’s Place in 1939 and has sin...
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AUGUST

2021

Ivybridge Lane, WC2N
Ivybridge Lane is named after a former ivy-covered bridge The ’ivy bridge’ crossed an old watercourse on this spot but the bridge itself was demolished sometime before 1600.

Ivybridge Lane was formerly called Salisbury Street.
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Ron Shepherd 91 Fernhead Road, W9 Added: 18 Sep 2021 17:28 GMT	More Wisdom Norman Joseph Wisdom was born in St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, West London. Reply
Jonathan Penner Pennard Road, W12 Added: 11 Sep 2021 16:03 GMT	Pennard Road, W12 My wife and I, young Canadians, lodged at 65 (?) Pennard Road with a fellow named Clive and his girlfriend, Melanie, for about 6 months in 1985. We loved the area and found it extremely convenient. Reply
Senegal Road, SE16 Added: 1 Sep 2021 16:58 GMT	Prefabs! The "post-war detached houses" mentioned in the description were "prefabs" - self-contained single-storey pre-fabricated dwellings. Demolition of houses on the part that became Senegal Fields was complete by 1964 or 1965. Source: Prefabs in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia Reply
Matthew Moggridge ([email protected]) Lord Chatham’s Ride, TN14 Added: 1 Sep 2021 10:38 GMT	Lord Chatham’s Ride (does it even exist?) Just to say that I cycled from my home in Sanderstead to Knockholt Pound at the weekend hoping to ride Lord Chatham’s Ride, but could I find it? No. I rode up Chevening Lane, just past the Three Horseshoes pub and when I reached the end of the road there was a gate and a sign reading "Private, No Entry". I assumed this was the back entrance to Chevening House, country retreat of the Foreign Secretary, and that Lord Chatham’s Ride was inside the grounds. At least that’s what I’m assuming as I ended up following a footpath that led me into some woods with loads of rooted pathways, all very annoying. Does Lord Chatham’s Ride exist and if so, can I ride it, or is it within the grounds of Chevening House and, therefore, out of bounds? Here’s an account of my weekend ride with images, see URL below. Source: No Visible Lycra: Lord Chatham’s ride: a big disappointmen Reply
norma brown Theobald Street (watercolour) Added: 20 Aug 2021 21:12 GMT	my grandparents lived there as well as 2 further generations my home Reply
Ruth Cheltenham Road, SE15 Added: 6 Aug 2021 13:31 GMT	Cheltenham Road, SE15 Harris Girls’ Academy, in Homestall Road, just off Cheltenham Road, was formerly Waverley School. Before that it was built as Honor Oak Girls’ Grammar School. It was also the South London Emergency School during WW2,taking girls from various schools in the vicinity, including those returning from being evacuated. Reply
Jude Allen Orange Street, WC2H Added: 29 Jul 2021 07:53 GMT	Bra top I jave a jewelled item of clothong worn by a revie girl. It is red with diamante straps. Inside it jas a label Bermans Revue 16 Orange Street but I cannot find any info online about the revue only that 16 Orange Street used to be a theatre. Does any one know about the revue. I would be intesrested to imagine the wearer of the article and her London life. Reply
Kathleen Dunloe Avenue, N17 Added: 28 Jul 2021 09:12 GMT	Dunloe Avenue, N17 I was born in 1951,my grandparents lived at 5 Dunloe Avenue.I had photos of the coronation decorations in the area for 1953.The houses were rented out by Rowleys,their ’workers yard’ was at the top of Dunloe Avenue.The house was fairly big 3 bedroom with bath and toilet upstairs,and kitchenette downstairs -a fairly big garden.My Grandmother died 1980 and the house was taken back to be rented again Reply

JULY

2015

Belsize Lane, NW3
Belsize Lane is a thoroughfare linking Rosslyn Hill with Swiss Cottage. Belsize Lane is very old, being marked between hedges in Rocque’s 1745 map, and shown as leading to the grounds of the manor-house.

Baines says that about 1839 "Belsize Lane was long, narrow, and lonesome; midway in it was a very small farm, and near thereto the owner of Belsize House erected a turnpike gate to demonstrate his rights of possession."

While still an attractive road, the road is slightly too narrow for the modern buses which run along it. Traffic tends to buildup behind them.
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JULY

2015

Harrow Road, Kensal Green (1900s)
The corner of Ravensworth Road and Harrow Road in NW10.
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JULY

2015

St Charles’ Square Training College (1908)
St Charles’ Square Training College/Carmelite Convent. This photo was taken from the bottom of St Marks Park which was open land all the way to Highlever Rd at this point. Pangbourne Avenue where the Princess Louise Childrens hospital was (and is now the Argyll development) was not built until the 1920s.
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JULY

2015

The Crown
The Crown was situated at 57 Princedale Road. This pub was established in 1851 and this magnificent photo was taken by a photographer from Maxilla Gardens, Notting Hill.

It featured in a couple of episodes of ’Minder’, which was filmed on location in this area.

This pub became a bar/restaurant called The Academy in 1987.
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JULY

2015

Barnet Grass Speedway
Barnet Grass Speedway was active between 1929 and 1936, next to the recently constructed Barnet By Pass. It was the North London Motor Club that negotiated to run speedway on a twenty acre grass track that was adjacent to the Barnet Bypass. It was thus so convenient to travel to with plenty of room for spectators and their transport. The track was originally grass-covered rather than the more usual cinder or shale. The track was opened for the first meeting on the 27 July 1929.

The site remained the venue for open meeting through to 1936 although by 1934 the grass was all but worn away and cinders were added to the bends. The name for its final year was changed to simply ’Barnet Speedway’.

Closing in 1937 when the North London Motor Club failed to achieve an extension on the licence after having successfully completed eighty seven meeting meaning that speedway was lost to the area however the NLMC moved their speedway operation to High Beech leaving the owners of the land free to sell it on for building.

Once the circuit had been s...
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JULY

2015

Colville Terrace, W11
Colville Terrace, W11 has strong movie connnections. Colville Terrace began the 20th century well-to-do but some time before World War Two the houses became multi-occupied. The street suffered some bomb damage in the Blitz and hosted the local communists’ headquarters. In the late 50s numbers 2, 9, 10, 19, 22 and 24 were Rachman houses occupied by West Indian immigrants and prostitutes, including Majbritt Morrison who wrote the ’Jungle West 11’ book.

In the 1958 riots they became targets for the fascist-influenced local mob. In 1960 the basement of number 24 was put under police surveillance and duly established to be a brothel. Michael de Freitas, who was living on the top floor, was arrested but the police couldn’t prove he was the landlord.
Colville Terrace also hosted several West Indian blues clubs including Sheriff’s gym and the Barbadian La Paloma. In the early 70s number 42, at the east end of Powis Square, became renowned as the gay hippy commune, which was evicted and re-housed by Notting Hill ...
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JULY

2015

Buses in Shenley Road
A 292 and 358 in Shenley Road. Facebook user Maureen Sullivan has worked out the following from the clues in the photo:

This photo was probably taken in August 1968 (the advertised film was released in July that year).

The green Route 358 in the background is the 12.53 departure from St Albans, running about 5 minutes late according to the clock on All Saints Church tower.

The 292 is for some reason displaying the Saturday only intermediate blind for Route 292A.

Buildings on the right are still being finished off, on the site of the old Baptist Church, once home to the 1st Borehamwood Scouts.
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JULY

2015

Hayden’s Place, W11
Haydens Place is a small cul-de-sac off of the Portobello Road. Hayden’s Place is a short mews is just off the Portobello Road between Westbourne Park Road and Lancaster Road. It was built in the 1860s. Its original name was Hayden’s Mews; it was only by the time of the 1901 census that was described as Hayden Place. The apostrophe seems to have crept in much later – it was still described as Hayden Place on the 1935 Ordnance Survey map.

In 1871, John Hayden, described in the census return as “contractor employing 6 men” was living at 1 Hayden Mews, and it must have been named after him. He may well have been responsible for building the mews.

Originally, the mews had 19 numbered dwellings in it, so it probably extended right down as far as Elgin Mews, between the back gardens of the houses in Westbourne Park Road and Lancaster Road. But by 1891, no more than three households are recorded in the census (five in 1901). It seems that sometime around 1890 the western end of the mews was built over to form a b...
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JULY

2015

Elgin Crescent, W11
Elgin Crescent runs from Portobello Road west across Ladbroke Grove and then curls round to the south to join Clarendon Road. East of Ladbroke Grove, it was originally called Elgin Road with the middle section Surrey Gardens and the rest, Arundel Road.

West of Ladbroke Grove, it was originally numbered from 1-36 consecutive on the northern side, starting at the western end (so the present No. 120 was No. 1) and from 37-81 consecutive on the southern side starting at the eastern end (so the present No. 63 was No. 37). The street was officially renumbered in 1880.

The section between Portobello Road and Kensington Park Road consists of shops and cafes; the rest of the street is residential. It is intersected by Ladbroke Grove and further along, the southern side is broken by Rosmead Road. Many houses back on to communal gardens. The odd numbers are on the south side and the even on the north. From Ladbroke Grove west the Crescent is lined intermittently with mature and some new trees. Lamp posts are in the Victorian style.
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JULY

2015

Kilburn Bridge
Kilburn Bridge once marked the spot where the Edgware Road crossed the River Westbourne. Kilburn Bridge, which was recorded in 1398 and thought to have been built in the mid 13th century by the prior of Kilburn, carried Edgware Road across the Kilburn brook (the Westbourne River).

In 1826 the original stone bridge with a Gothic arch survived, flanked by brick portions added at two different periods. By that date repair was shared between the trustees of Marylebone turnpike and of the Kilburn Road.

In more modern times, as the river has been culverted and sent underground, there is no trace of the structure.

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JULY

2015

Apollo Victoria Theatre
The Apollo Victoria Theatre is a West End theatre, across from London Victoria Station. The theatre was built by architects Ernest Wamsley Lewis and William Edward Trent in 1929 for Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, a part of the Gaumont British chain. The theatre was built with two identical facades on Wilton and Vauxhall Bridge Roads. Construction is principally of concrete, with strong horizontal banding along the exterior sides of the auditorium. By contrast the entrances feature a cantilevered canopy, and are framed by vertical channelling, with two black marble columns rising to the roof line. The entrance is simple, making use of chrome trimmings, this leads to a nautical themed interior in the original Art Deco style that makes extensive use of concealed lighting, decorated with scallop shells and columns that burst into sculptured fountains at the ceiling.

The theatre had a 74 feet by 24 feet stage and was equipped with 10 dressing rooms and two suites for principals. The theatre was Grade II* listed on 28 June 1972.

The theatre op...
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JULY

2015

Dollis Avenue, N3
Dollis Avenue sprung to life in the Edwardian years. Early attempts to build up Olders Hill in the south-west corner of Finchley proved abortive. The National Standard Land Mortgage and Investment Co. bought the estate in 1880 but few lots had been built on by 1897.

Part of Grass farm, which adjoined Olders Hill to the north, was offered for building along Hendon Lane with similar lack of success in 1894. In 1901 that part of Finchley, while providing excellent sites, was thought to be undeveloped because of poor transport, which would be improved by trams.

After the arrival of trams in 1905 housing spread quickly.

There was building in 1906 on Grass Farm estate in Dollis Avenue, where Woodway Lodge, designed by Messrs. Bennet & Richardson, was one of several detached houses.
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JULY

2015

Barham Avenue, WD6
Barham Avenue was constructed on the site of two historic houses. A large house called Hillside once stood at the entrance to the future Barham Avenue.

Barham House stood to the east of Hillside. There had been a house on this site since about 1600 which had changed occupants many times and was renamed over the years. The last owner, famous publisher Andrew Chatto, was there in 1897. His son sold the property. In 1931 a local Estate Agent bought and demolished the house. He divided the ground into lots and this was the origin of Barham Avenue, built 1932.
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JULY

2015

East End Road, N3
East End Road was originally the route from the hamlet of Church End Finchley to the old Great North Road when it ran through Muswell Hill. Although apparently not so named until the late 19th century, it probably dated from the 14th-century growth of East End.

The road has had various names such as Manor Lane (19th century) and Finchley Road (18th century). In the medieval period a triangle of waste, called Hunts Green (1437), which stretched from Stanley Road to the Junction of Church Lane, was the location of the first hamlet of East End Finchley (1365).
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JULY

2015

Unknown as yet
The Holly Park Methodist Church was founded in 1881 by the Rev. Morley Punshon and Sir Francis Lycett. The architect was Elijah Hoole. The church with seating for 1000 opened in 1882 - the lecture hall and school classrooms, considered by Mr Hoole to be his best work, opened in 1886.

In 1962 a modern church was erected on the site.
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JULY

2015

Victoria Bus Station
Victoria bus station is a bus station outside Victoria Station in Terminus Place. Victoria Station was built in 1861, after Victoria Street had been built a decade earlier through a slum dubbed "Devil’s Acre" by Charles Dickens. It connected Westminster Abbey with this part of Pimlico which gained the name Victoria instead, after the station which the growing suburb surroounded.

Quickly becoming one of the busiest stations in London, the forecourt outside quickly became an important hub for omnibuses. By the 1930s, it had a substantial roof canopy spanning all lanes - this was demolished in April 2003 as part of a station refurbishment.

Victoria is now London’s busiest bus station. In 2015 it had 19 bus routes using the station, with 200 buses per hour passing through in the peak.

It services bus services managed only by Transport for London, and is not to be confused with Victoria Coach Station, a few hundred metres away.
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JULY

2015

Middle Row School
Middle Row School was established in the late 19th century to provide education to the children of Kensal New Town. Kensal New Town was a 19th century greenfield development of terraced workers housing sandwiched between the Grand Junction (now Union} Canal and the Great Western Railway, next to the Western Gas Company Gas Works.

The first schooling for the new settlement was provided by the church of St John's, Kensal Green (built in 1845. north of the Canal). St John's School was erected close to the church in 1850. and it was here that any child from Kensal New Town who wished to receive an education would have attended. There was also an early Ragged School in Kensal Road adjacent to the Canal where poorer children may have received a rudimentary education.

The passing of the 1870 Education Act brought about fundamental changes in British education, as the state started to replace the church as the main source of elementary education. From 1880 education became compulsory until the age often or when a certain standard of education was achieved, and by 1899 the mini...
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