Sydenham, SE26
I have wanted to photograph Sydenham for some time primarily because two of my heroes lived there: the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and the musician David Sylvian.
Aberdeen House (now called St Davids) on Westwood Hill, was the boyhood home of Shackleton. His family moved there around 1884 after a short stay in Croydon. His father, an unsuccessful farmer but by then a trained doctor, had originally moved the family from County Kildare. Shackleton would have been about ten when he came to live here and stayed until around 1900. The following year he joined Scott's Discovery expedition to Antarctica.
The house has a Blue Plaque commemorating the fact that Shackleton lived there
St Davids/Aberdeen House stands next to St Bartholomew's Church or St Barts. In 1872 the great French Impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro painted the church as part of his famous The Avenue, Sydenham painting, now in the National Gallery, London. The painting is scanned above and I have taken photos of near where Pissarro painted it in Lawrie Park Avenue to show how it has changed from his days.
Also in The Avenue and photographed here is Burnage Court built in 1888. It's a gorgeous example of the type of houses built by the rich who settled in the Lawrie Park area at the height of the Victorian era. It is now converted into flats.
About a minutes walk away from Shackleton's home is Venner Road which I have also photographed (photos here. This is where a certain David Alan Batt and his brother grew up in the 1960s and early 1970s (I'm uncertain of the actual number of the house). Better known as David Sylvian (b.1958) and Steve Jansen (b.1959), lead singer and drummer respectively of the influential 80s band, Japan, Sylvian is arguably the most important British musician of his generation. Breaking up the band in the early 1980s as they were about to hit their commercial peak, the mercurial Sylvian has pursued a respected and celebrated solo career ever since. Uncompromising, seemingly disinterested in commercial success but still able to fill out venues like the Royal Festival Hall (2007) with ease: he has moved on where others have stood still. Just look at his contemporaries in comparison: Duran Duran (same music, same haircuts, just faces 25 years older), Mark Hollis (retired), Paul Weller (brother of Oasis), Tears for Fears (Japan tribute band) etc. etc. Meanwhile Sylvian still works on the highest plain where art meets music.
I thoroughly recommend checking out his website at davidsylvian.com to find out more. Like everything he does it is just beautiful. I've also added a review of the Dvd of Japan at their finest, Very Best of Japan.
In the so-so biography, David Sylvian: The Last Romantic
At the other end, Venner Road runs into Sydenham Rd. which makes up the high street. That is a dump. Like most South London high streets the shops are made up of pound shops, greasy spoons, nail bars and hairdressers. Now beware of entering these hairdressers as I once did for you might not get the haircut you requested. The terminology is a little complicated: here's what you need to know: 'European Hairstyle' = shaved; 'All Other Hairstyles' = shaved.
Unfortunately, phrases like 'Age of Reason', 'Devil in the Flesh' or 'The Ink in the Well' were not common utterances on this high street nor did I overhear discussions on Picasso's 'Blue' Period or Cocteau's Difficulty of Being. Not even a discussion on why Red Guitar and Forbidden Colours were omitted from Sylvian's Best Of album or anyone humming along to lyrics from Japan's formative years such as ''...with juvenile intentions...'.
Whatever gets you through the night?? Clearly not early Japan round these parts.
Sickening.
Instead, all I heard was 'innit', 'swear down' and what who was going to who
that night.
And no I don't have a spare cigarette.
The old English high street isn't what it used to be.
Interestingly, just a mile or so down the road in Beckenham another pioneer of British music, David Bowie lived in the late 60s/early 70s. A decade or so older than Sylvian, Bowie would have played at The Beckenham Arts Lab aka The Three Tuns Pub (now The Rat and Parrot) in Beckenham High Street when Sylvian was a teenager. It is amazing to think that the two great icons of British musicfrom the last 30 years knew the same roads, the same places.
Venner Road also includes a striking Regency white building at No. 88 called Crofton Lodge. This is used for photo shoots and for film locations.
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These photos are available as signed prints. Please e-mail for details. Same photos shown in various stages of manipulation.
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March 09: Added exterior shots of St. Peter's Church, Vauxhall, where in the late 1980s/early 1990s the illustrator Russell Mills (Sylvian's Weatherbox, Trophies etc.) staged the Echoes from the Cross concerts.
- Paul Page (2009)
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, his childhood is described as an unhappy one; a really tough, working-class background. This was no doubt true in the 1960s but in 2009 I could not help but falling in love with Venner Road as I walked down it. It is full of gorgeous Victorian terrace houses and on this cold Sunday afternoon had a serenity, a quiteness, you will find hard to replicate elsewhere. This is the heartbeat of Victorialand. My favourite park in London, Crystal Palace Park, is just a 5 minute walk away. Moreover, at the end of the road you cross over the railway footbridge at Penge East and come across two of the most exquisite Victorian follies you will find in South London at 
(Movie Dvd with Kenneth Branagh)
