IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Homelands Drive, LONDON, SE19 2NS

Large pair of semi-detached 19th Century villas marked on the 1870 6" map. A green plaque by the door to no 140 (on the right) commemorates Admiral Robert Fitzroy. Fitzroy, pioneer of meteorology (including founding what later became the Met Office) and captain of the ship on which Charles Darwin voyaged to the Galapagos, HMS Beagle, lived here for the last month or so of his life. Suffering from depression, he committed suicide here on 30 April 1865.

Probably the best of the suburban villas on Church Road, this splendidly spiky Victorian affair dates from 1873 and was designed by the splendidly-named Sextus Dyball. It is crammed with detail, in particular the bay on the right which has brick nogging and two demi-octagonal roofs. Grade II listed. Dyball was a speculative builder-architect who designed a number of buildings in the area. Jonathan Meades wrote of him that he was "a local builder to whom all devotees of inspired ugliness and sinister gracelessness will be forever indebted. Did Dyball know what he was doing? Did he have any idea of the sensations that his creations would provoke? It is improbable that he was out to shock. Rather, it seems that he ... subscribed to an aesthetic system that, although not far from us, feels chronologically, seems unfathomably distant – a vestige of an alien civilisation."

The porch of Rockmount, a large and very ornate 19th Century villa, 128 Church Road, first marked on the 1896 1:1056 plan where it is shown in a gap between earlier houses. Built c.1873, it is grade II listed - see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1188488?section=official-list-entry. The architect was Sextus Dyball, or Hexagon Sextus Dyball to give his full name.

Large 19th Century villa marked on the 1870 6" map.

A large and very ornate 19th Century villa, 128 Church Road, first marked on the 1896 1:1056 plan where it is shown in a gap between earlier houses. Built c.1873, it is grade II listed - see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1188488?section=official-list-entry. The architect was Sextus Dyball, or Hexagon Sextus Dyball to give his full name.

Pair of early 19th Century houses in Church Road, nos 126 & 124 respectively. Both are grade II listed - see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1079316?section=official-list-entry and https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1188480?section=official-list-entry respectively.

Leafy Church Road runs along a ridge towards Crystal Palace. Photo number 7649568.

The further along Church Road from the Crystal Palace 'triangle', the less the well-heeled Victorian character is evident. Photo number 7649538.

Victorian pillar box in Sylvan Hill by its junction with Church Road.

Mixed housing styles in Upper Norwood.