Bromley: St Leonard's Road

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 19 Aug 2008

This image demonstrates the contrast between one of the few surviving blocks of the original Victorian housing in Poplar, and modern-day architects' attempts to replicate the style, meet the demands of the planning department of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and to provide houses suitable for modern living. The newer houses have the same design of archways, sash windows, and window lintels, while the roof parapet line has been retained at the same height, but note how the high ceilings in the rooms in the older houses must have been shortened in the newer properties as evidenced by the lower first floor windows, while partially hidden away behind the parapet of the newer houses are dormer windows indicating how the lower first floor has enabled the addition of a second floor in them. The old houses on the left are certainly shown on the Ordnance Survey map edition of 1869.

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