IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Park Lane, CROYDON, CR9 1BP

Fairfield Halls are the main concert venue for suburban South London, and host the top classical and pop artists, as well as all other forms of entertainment.

I don't know many town centres where modern blocks are right next to suburban semi-detached houses, but behind this one on Barclay Road are the original houses built between the wars and a return to suburbia beyond. Fairfield Halls are on the left.

This elegant office block, formerly known as Commercial Union House, was home to head office departments of Commercial Union Assurance, from the early 1980s until merger with first General Accident (to form CGU) then Norwich Union to form Aviva Plc. The last of the company's departments - the local sales office - vacated the building in 2005. There are luxury flats at the rear.

Looking towards the police station, where concrete fortifications are being erected at the perimeter.

Croydon Police Station, which faces Beech House Road but extends a much greater distance along Park Lane, was built c1980 to the designs of the Metropolitan Police's chief architect, J.I. Elliott.

By Richard Seifert & Partners, 1981-83, in the reflective glass so fashionable for a time. This was a relative late comer to the Croydon party. The refurbished office block was being marketed as 69 Park Lane. 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.

Mirroring the Nestle building opposite

Taberner House housed the main offices of Croydon London Borough Council until September 2013, the building was demolished in 2015. The current building scheme will deliver 513 new homes both for sale and for rent, 35 per cent of which will be delivered at a subsidised level. The Queen’s Gardens, although partially lost, will be reshaped and slightly increased in size. Meanwhile, St.George's House, the former Nestlé HQ, is currently being converted into flats.