Old Swan in general

[Ged]

For Martin. This is the nearest comparison I think I could get to that 1950s pic I sent you from Baden House. Prescot Road, Old Swan looking South. The biggest change is probably Tesco having replaced St. Oswald House tenements.




  

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Then subsequent zoom settings. One closer and 2 further away.












Then panning to the right (West) - the old cinema in full. PhilG might like this one but there is a bit of 'the setting' sun glare which couldn't be helped through the window unfortunately. Still can't quite see Gnomies house on it either.





Then panning to the left (East) - the rooftops.







.

[Gnomie]

nice pics Ged

Who's flat was you in

Must have been early as ive never seen the road in Old Swan, normally chocka with traffic

[quincyg]

great shots Ged
always nice to see an area from a different vantage point.
never noticed there was such a dip in the road at street level either.

excellent view of the old Curzon? too, my 2nd fave old cinema building after The Abbey.

[carole1000]

great pics Ged, god they bring back memories, my dad was born and bred in Sunbeam road Old Swan, I used to spend all my summer holidays there at my grandads house, everyone was so friendly and at night when I was supposed to be asleep I used to sit by the open bedroom window and listen to all the neighbours chatting in the evening as they would all meet in the street and catch up on the latest gossip, brilliant times!!!

[PhilipG]

great shots Ged
always nice to see an area from a different vantage point.
never noticed there was such a dip in the road at street level either.

excellent view of the old Curzon? too, my 2nd fave old cinema building after The Abbey.

Almost exactly the same things I would have said.
I'd have added "One cinema from another" because Baden House is on the exact site of the (New) Regent.
The (Old) Regent is still standing (Kwik Save).

[Gnomie]

great pics Ged, god they bring back memories, my dad was born and bred in Sunbeam road Old Swan, I used to spend all my summer holidays there at my grandads house, everyone was so friendly and at night when I was supposed to be asleep I used to sit by the open bedroom window and listen to all the neighbours chatting in the evening as they would all meet in the street and catch up on the latest gossip, brilliant times!!!

Hey Carole

I used to live in Sunbeam Road

[carole1000]

Hey Carole

I used to live in Sunbeam Road

What a small world, my grandad lived in No. 43 his surname was wynn, he died in 1977 but my brother bought his house with his then wife and they had a son Gareth, they are divorced now but my ex sister-in-law still lives there. which number were you?

[GNASHER]

I lived in Sunbeam from '80 to '86.It was the first house that we bought.

[quincyg]

Almost exactly the same things I would have said.
I'd have added "One cinema from another" because Baden House is on the exact site of the (New) Regent.
The (Old) Regent is still standing (Kwik Save).

oh that's where it was.
I'm trying to picture Baden Hse in my mind...is that the one with shops or the job centre underneath?
I'm assuming the New Regent was demolished or did they keep some of the basic structure?

I often thought the building on the corner was an old cinema until I went past on the bus yesterday and the sunlight caught the painted over writing...it's an old co-op.

[Gnomie]

I lived in number 66, but not as far back as the 70's

[PhilipG]

oh that's where it was.
I'm trying to picture Baden Hse in my mind...is that the one with shops or the job centre underneath?
I'm assuming the New Regent was demolished or did they keep some of the basic structure?

I often thought the building on the corner was an old cinema until I went past on the bus yesterday and the sunlight caught the painted over writing...it's an old co-op.

Baden House is the tower block.
The (New) Regent closed in 1967 for immediate (& complete) demolition.

[Gnomie]

some pics of OLd Swan here

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...-Swan/?start=0

The Kwik Save building( having work done to it at present ) is on page 4

[hmtmaj]

Ged, what can I say . . .
Thanks very much for these pics
I don't know how you did it but you have got the same pic as the one you sent me from the late 60's ( which I have printed and framed ), brilliant, again thank you.

I lived from birth ( 1961 ) till about 1989 in Fitzgerald road, then moved to Warmington rd for approx 12 years, now I'm on Queens Drive ( still in the Swan ) and these photos from the late 60's and today are superb.

It's amazing how close the Litlewoods building looks to Old Swan.
I worked in Crawfords ( United Biscuits ) to about 2002 then changed job to the Littlewoods Building in 2002 and what a building that was. I actually sat in the original Moores office, with the original fireplace and a mosaic glass dome in the ceiling ( never took no pics though ) and it would be a travesty if they pulled it down. It still took me about 25 mins to walk there but from your photos Ged, it looks so close.

Talking of Queens Drive, a friend passed me a recent edition of the freebie magazine called "LINX", which fetured an article on Queens Drive, hope you don't mind if I bore you with the details: It's from Stephen Guy, West Derby Society.
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The City Fathers had great foresight in Edwardian times when they began to build a mighty road skirting the outskirts of Liverpool to serve that new fangled machine, the motor car.
They called it Queens Drive and it still serves as the citys ring road.
Early stretches sprang up as new, but disconnected tree lined boulevards. Over the years, the highway absorbed quiet lanes in it's path to make the full length road we know today.
This work was carried out before the first world war and continued into the 1920's.
Passing through the fields of Clubmoor, the new road bypassed ancient Larkhill Lane but spared imposing Larkhill Mansion whose driveway was turned into Muirhead Avenue and grounds into Muirhead Gardens.
The big house was finally demolished in 1962 and the present Library built.
At about the same time, the original Larkhill gates in the central reservation of Muirhead Avenue, Tuebrook, were removed.
At Stoneycroft, it absorbed Moss Lane and Black Horse Lane. Then at the junction with Prescot Road it encounted two beautiful Lodges guarding the drive to a splendid Mansion called Highfield House.
The gates of this pile were situated in a hamlet caleld summer square nestling around the Black Horse Inn and a smithy with it's Blacksmith serving the local farming community.
Highfield House, built in 1763 stood on the high ground and had once been the home of the Duchess of Athol. It ended it's days as Highfield Infirmary which later became Broadgreen Hospital.
Other big West Derby houses affected by Queens Drive included Barnfield. This stood in front of where the Jolly Miller now stands and was demolished to improve the junction with Mill Lane.
Atmospheric Moss House was cleared to make way for improvements at the junction with Derby Lane. Some of the sandstone from it's walls may have been incorporated into the shops built on the corner.
There was a picturesque wood and pond on the site of a former quarry where the Queens Drive pub now stands ( the Stoneycroft ).
A little further south glass-domed Fir Grove House was swept away opposite the junction with Alder Road - the fire station stands on the site.
Fir Grove Farm, just down the road, also went.

A Mystery Remains: Oak Cottage.
Oak Cottage was apparently to make way for Queens Drive but the site remains empty to this day, next to the car wash. Only the original garden wall remains.
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Site of Oak Cottage - Queens Drive, apologies for qualty, I took it on my camera phone !


By the way, all of a sudden they are clearing this field as I think they are building an Old Peoples Home on the site. Cut down a tree which must have been over 100 years old
Then again, the wife won't have far to go to visit me, if they build it

I am passing this on as I live very, very, very close to the car wash on Queens Drive and always wondered what that empty field was, I always knew it as the Sheepy.

Anyway, sorry to bore you all and thanks once again to Ged for getting these pics for me, Martin.

[Gnomie]

Behind the car wash was the scene of a big explosion many years ago. 1970's or 80's. not sure what was there or how it happened? if you look at the area now, a huge dip is in the land.

The picture of Sandfield WAlk, is the site of the explosion. I heard it was gas? not sure really? but i do remember the huge crater in the field.

[hmtmaj]

Gnomie, it was the site of the car wash. It used to be a garage. A man was digging out and breaking up an old Petrol Container ( the ones buried underground ) and a spark lit the fumes and he was blown to pieces. A next door neighbour of mine remembered it as the explosion was so loud AND he had bits of "shrapnel" ( for want of a better word ) all over his garden.
It happened around the 1970's.