The East End in Colour
![]() |
The East End in Colour, 1960–1980 David Granick, Hoxton Mini Press, 2018, 144 pages, 97 colour plates, hardback. |
This collection of recently discovered photographs is the work of David Granick (1912– 1980), a person hitherto quite unknown in the annals of serious photography. This small volume of his pictures and the exhibition that accompanies the publication will place him among the greats.
The two decades during which he put together this memorial to his native east end of London coincided with the last phase of LS Lowry’s much longer life (1887-1976). By producing stark images of the industrial areas they inhabited, both artists broke new ground, bringing the drab scenery and harshness of life in these completely unfashionable areas into the realm of serious art.
In the aftermath of the bombing and rocket attacks of the second world war, much of London’s east end was reduced to rubble or to buildings scarred beyond reach of reconstruction. When Granick began his records in 1960 some of these ruins still lay abandoned in the side streets, and the first class of his photographs includes a number of these scenes. The post-war era saw a huge loss of population as the Cockneys moved out to new areas being provided in places such as Stevenage and Harlow.
The second class of pictures consists of an endless and painful record of boarded-up rows of late- Georgian or Victorian shops, pubs and houses. For viewers of these pages who do not know the story from London’s recent past, the sets of images here are both graphic and highly informative.
Not all is desolation and decay. The photographs, as in Lowry’s work, also show individuals or crowds going about their daily business: shopping at a market stall, hanging around outside the doors of the pubs that were still in business, drinking tea at a cabbies’ shelter outside a bank or catching red buses, including the fondly remembered Routemasters. Vehicles, fewer then, line the streets or wait in queues or at traffic lights. The car-spotter will have a field day with the Ford Populars and Morris Minors seen here.
A more poignant mood still is struck later. Working, one suspects, in the quietness of Sundays, Granick shows the docks and their barges or steamers in impressionistic scenes of tranquillity, with the soft light reflected in the still water of the Pool of London. Tower Bridge is seen in the first photograph in the book and, looking beyond it to the west, the City’s first skyscrapers make their debut almost timidly on the horizon. In the time since Granick’s death in 1980 this City skyline has been transformed. Elsewhere in the book, the modern tower blocks of housing are seen rising above the zones of clearances or looking over the shoulders of an early-19th-century terrace in the Commercial Road in 1970.
The architectural historian will value the colour recording of the condition of such celebrated streets as those around Spitalfields Market in the 1960s, when still playing host to such businesses as ‘Sydney Young, Furrier’. How many furriers do we still have? Gentrification has come to the rescue of some of this heritage but, for the most part, this small volume is an elegy for a segment of London north of the Thames, and its inhabitants, in its final days.
This article originally appeared as ‘Post-war portfolio’ in IHBC's Context 156 (Page 55), published in September 2018. It was written by Graham Tite, conservation officer.
--Institute of Historic Building Conservation
Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- British post-war mass housing
- Conservation.
- Demolishing Modernism: Britain's lost post-war gems
- Did the successes of British post-war mass housing outweigh its failures?
- England's Post-War Listed Buildings
- Heritage asset.
- Heritage.
- Historic building.
- IHBC articles.
- Mr Barry's War
- The Institute of Historic Building Conservation.
IHBC NewsBlog
Watch IHBC’s webinar on ‘Retrofit of Traditional Buildings’
On 26 March the IHBC, led by Prof. John Edwards, hosted a free one-hour CPD webinar ‘Introduction to Building Survey for Retrofit’ for sector professionals.
Has the world left Europe behind?
Greg Clark, writing an opinion piece for RICS, explores how good governance in cities pays dividends.
AHF on ‘Transforming Places through Heritage’
The Architectural Heritage Fund has issued a report on the first year of its ‘Transforming Places Through Heritage’ grants programme, funded by DCMS.
‘Star Cities’, Marvels of Renaissance Engineering
Europe’s star cities are scattered all over Europe but their perfect geometrical beauty can only be fully admired when seen from above.
COTAC Releases Insight 1 series – The Need to Appreciate the Built Heritage
The freely available Insight 1 series targets a wide range of cohorts who wish to gain an appreciation of practical heritage conservation.
Palace of Westminster ‘deteriorating faster than it can be fixed’
The restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster is of ‘paramount importance’ according to the recent strategic review.
Find Webinars and other Events pertaining to Heritage Conservation
The IHBC's monthly CPD Circular showcases upcoming Events, Awards, Placements, Bursaries & Scholarships, Calls for Papers and more from across the UK and beyond.
139-Year-Old Victorian house moves through San Francisco
The move of a 139 year old Victorian House through the streets of San Francisco drew an excited crowd of onlookers who came out to watch a truck slowly and carefully pull the historic house through the streets.
‘Local Heritage Listing: Identifying and Conserving Local Heritage’ Published
Historic England has published a new edition of its advice note on how local heritage listing and local heritage lists can be formally identified as part of the wider range of designation so that they can be taken into account in planning applications.
Hammersmith Bridge illuminated red in Valentine’s Day message to Government
The stunt aimed at highlighting ongoing delays to its repair, as the 133-year-old west London bridge has been closed to traffic since April 2019 when cracks appeared in its pedestals.
Drone Surveying a London Landmark
Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used to undertake a survey of the Lloyd’s building’s external façade in the heart of the City of London.