IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wellesley Road, CROYDON, CR0 0XD

Near the junction with George Street and the Croydon Underpass.

With car 2550 on driver-training duties

Wellesley Road emerges from under George Street in the centre of Croydon; it is part of the A212. There is something about this scene that looks as though it could have been taken in a foreign city.

A Beckenham Junction tram, seen leaving the Wellesley Road tram stop.

A matching pair of 1960s office blocks, both looking somewhat under-utilised. Between the 1950s and the 1970s Croydon experienced a burst of commercial development unparalleled anywhere else in the country. The impetus was provided by the Croydon Corporation Act of 1956 which gave Croydon Council powers to develop land in the borough. A combination of improved roads, government incentives to relocate from, and Croydon's proximity to, central London, and lower rents attracted employers in their droves. By 1970 about six million square feet of office space had been provided in central Croydon. Development has continued since, but at a much slower rate. From a distance the skyline is impressive (the nearest this country comes to Manhattan), but the problem is that few of the buildings are of architectural merit.

A striking building of Portland stone and marble, with Art Deco/Moderne overtones such as the concave centrepiece with a stepped surround. Unusual fenestration with the windows arranged in grids. Crowning the capitals of the ground-floor columns are urns dedicated to 'fire', 'air', 'earth', 'water', 'time', 'energy', 'flight', 'Elysium', and 'Hesperides'. We don't do things like that any more! It was built for the County Borough of Croydon as electricity showrooms and offices, the architect Robert Atkinson, 1939-42. It must be one of the very few pre-war buildings left on Wellesley Road. Grade II listed. It is now used by the UK Border Agency as an Orwellian-sounding 'Reporting Centre'.

Due to extensive engineering works, at East Croydon, trams were terminating at Wellesley Road. Westbound trams were departing from George Street, meanwhile eastbound services, beyond East Croydon, were being replaced by buses.

Due to extensive engineering works, at East Croydon, trams were terminating at Wellesley Road. Westbound trams were departing from George Street, meanwhile eastbound services, beyond East Croydon, were being replaced by buses.