Streatham means "the hamlet on the street". The street in question, the
London to Brighton Way, was the
Roman road from the capital
Londinium to the south coast near
Portslade, today within
Brighton and Hove. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to
coastal erosion, which has been tentatively identified with 'Novus Portus' mentioned in
Ptolemy's
Geographia. The road is confusingly referred to as
Stane Street (Stone Street) in some sources and diverges from the main London-Chichester road at
Kennington. Streatham's first parish church, St Leonard's, was founded in
Saxon times but an early Tudor tower is the only remaining structure pre-dating 1831 when the body of the church was rebuilt. The medieval parish covered a wider area including
Balham and
Tooting Bec. The southern portion of what is now Streatham formed part of Tooting Graveney ancient parish. A charter states that in the late seventh century, land in Streatham and Tooting Graveney was granted by
Erkenwald and
Frithwald to
Chertsey Abbey, a grant which was later confirmed in the time of Athelstan in 933. is recorded as granting land in the area to
Chertsey Abbey. Streatham appears in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as
Estreham. It was held by
Bec-Hellouin Abbey (in
Normandy) from
Richard de Tonbrige. Its Domesday assets were: 2
hides, 1
virgate and
ploughlands of cultivated land and of
meadow and herbage (mixed grass and bracken). Annually it was assessed to render £4 5s 0d to its
overlords. After the departure of the Romans, the main road through Streatham remained an important trackway. From the 17th century it was adopted as the main coach road to
Croydon and
East Grinstead, and then on to
Newhaven and
Lewes. In 1780 it then became the route of the
turnpike road from London to
Brighton, and subsequently became the basis for the modern
A23. This road (and its traffic) have shaped Streatham's development.
Streatham Village and Streatham Wells The village remained largely unchanged until the 18th century, when its natural springs, known as Streatham Wells, were first celebrated for their health-giving properties. The reputation of the spa, and improved
turnpike roads, attracted wealthy
City of London merchants and others to build their country residences in Streatham. In spite of London's expansion, a limited number of developments took place in the village in the second half of the nineteenth century, Streatham Vale sprung up to the South later still and the small
parade of shops by Streatham Common Station has become known colloquially as Streatham Village. Wellfield Road, which had previously been known as Leigham Lane, was renamed to reflect its role as the main route from the centre of Streatham to one of the well locations. Another mineral well was located on the south side of Streatham Common, in an area that now forms part of The Rookery, where it can still be seen and visited within the formal gardens.
Streatham Park or Streatham Place In the 1730s,
Streatham Park, a Georgian country mansion, was built by the brewer Ralph Thrale on land he bought from the
Lord of the Manor – the
fourth Duke of Bedford. Streatham Park later passed to Ralph's son
Henry Thrale, who with his wife
Hester Thrale entertained many of the leading literary and artistic characters of the day, most notably the lexicographer
Samuel Johnson. The dining room contained 12 portraits of
Henry's guests painted by his friend
Joshua Reynolds. These pictures were wittily labelled by
Fanny Burney as the
Streatham Worthies. Streatham Park was later leased to
Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, and was the venue for early negotiations with
France that led to the
Peace Treaty of 1783. Streatham Park was demolished in 1863.
Park Hill One large house that survives is Park Hill, on the north side of
Streatham Common, rebuilt in the early 19th century for the silk merchant,
William Leaf. His architect was
John Buonarotti Papworth. It was later the home of
Sir Henry Tate, sugar refiner, benefactor of local libraries across south London, including
Streatham Library, and founder of the
Tate Gallery at
Millbank. Tate engaged
Robert Marnock to re-model the grounds, which were listed at Grade II on the
Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England in 1987. The house later became a convent, St Michael's.
Urbanisation Development accelerated after the opening of
Streatham Hill railway station on the
West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway in 1856. The other two railway stations followed within fifteen years. Some estates, such as
Telford Park to the west of Streatham Hill, were spaciously planned with facilities like
tennis clubs. Despite the local connections to the Dukes of Bedford, there is no link to the contemporary
Bedford Park in west London. Another generously sized development was Roupell Park, the area near Christchurch Road promoted by the
Roupell family. Other streets adopted more conventional suburban layouts. Three more parish churches were built to serve the growing area, including Immanuel and St Andrew's (1854), St Peter's (1870) and St Margaret the Queen's (1889).
Frederick Wheeler's Terraces At the end of the 19th Century the heart of the old heart of the village of Streatham was sweepingly remodelled to the architectural designs of the young local architect
Frederick Wheeler FRIBA, creating the streetscape which remains to this day. Between 1884 and 1891 a comprehensive scheme of four-storey,
Queen Anne Revival style
shop houses was designed by Wheeler and built by the local firm Hill Brothers. Running down from the High Road as it diverges south from Mitcham Lane and past Streatham Green the parade continues, almost unbroken, to the entrance of
Streatham Station. The scheme meets, visually, at the bottom of the steep hill and cross-roads known locally as 'The Dip' in a pair of matched developments named
The Broadway and
The Triangle on what is now Gleneagle Road. South of this junction the development continues with Wheeler's Queens Parade terrace of 1885 rising up towards the railway bridge and
Streatham Station. This long run of matching red-brick parades, topped with high red-brick
'Dutch gables' and decorative chimney stacks all enlivened by decorative plasterwork, banded brickwork and multiform timber sash and tripartite
dormer windows, was noted by
Pevsner. Wheeler's comprehensive development also included
Streatham Hall, which served for some time as the local
town hall in the early 1900s, standing at 344 Streatham High Road between 1888 and its demolition in 1980. A surviving parade of shops fronting Streatham Green on Mitcham Lane has also been ascribed to Wheeler, who contributed a large number of other buildings to the local area including the (listed) Methodist church on Riggindale Road, Sussex House on the corner of Tooting Bec Gardens and the large houses built on the Manor Park (Wheeler lived at No. 7 Rydal Road) and Woodlands estates as well and the discreet
electricity substation in a "15th century Gothic style" beside the English Martyrs Church on Mitcham Lane. Wheeler later went on to find fame with his
Arts & Crafts influenced St Pauls Studios residences for bachelor artists, on
Talgarth Road, Hammersmith. There is now a mixture of buildings from all architectural eras of the past 200 years in the Streatham conservation area.
The inter-war period After the
First World War Streatham developed as a location for entertainment, with the
Streatham Hill Theatre, three cinemas, the Locarno ballroom and Streatham Ice Rink all adding to its reputation as "the West End of South London". With the advent of electric tram services, it also grew as a shopping centre serving a wide area to the south. In the 1930s large numbers of
blocks of flats were constructed along the High Road. These speculative developments were not initially successful. They were only filled when émigré communities began to arrive in London after leaving countries under the domination of
Hitler's Germany. In 1932 the parish church of the Holy Redeemer was built in Streatham Vale to commemorate the work of
William Wilberforce.
Retail decline and recovery In the 1950s Streatham had the longest and busiest shopping street in south London. Streatham became the site of the UK's first
supermarket, when
Express Dairies Premier Supermarkets opened its first store in 1951;
Waitrose subsequently opened its first supermarket in Streatham in 1955, but it closed down in 1963. However, a combination of factors led to a gradual decline through the 1970s and a more rapid decline in the 1980s. These included long term population movements out to
Croydon,
Kingston and
Sutton; the growth of heavy traffic on the
A23 (main road from central London to
Gatwick Airport and
Brighton); and a lack of redevelopment sites in the town centre. This culminated in 1990 when the closure of
Pratts, which had grown from a Victorian draper's shop to a
department store operated since the 1940s by the
John Lewis Partnership, coincided with the opening of a large
Sainsbury's supermarket half a mile south of the town centre, replacing an existing, smaller Sainbury's store opposite
Streatham Hill railway station. Several recent additions, such as
Argos,
Lidl and
Peacocks, are located in new retail spaces on the site of Pratt's but, in common with other high streets, retail recovery has been slow, and a substantial proportion of vacant space has been taken by a growing number of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. In August 2011, Streatham was selected as one of the areas to benefit from Round 1 of the Mayor of London's
Outer London Fund, gaining £300,000. Later, Streatham was awarded a further £1.6 million, matched by another £1 million by Lambeth. The money from this fund was spent on improving streets and public spaces in Streatham. This includes the smartening up of shop fronts through painting and cleaning, replacing shutters and signage as well as helping to reveal facilities behind the high street such as The Stables Community Centre. Streatham Library has also undergone a £1.2 million refurbishment. The Tudor Hall behind the library was brought back into public use as
The Mark Bennett Centre providing a meeting and performance space. Streatham Skyline introduced new lighting to highlight some of Streatham's more attractive buildings and monuments with the aim of improving safety and the overall attractiveness of the area. in a poll organised by the
BBC Today programme and
CABE. This largely reflected the dominance of through traffic along High Road. Plans for investment and regeneration had begun before the poll, with local amenity group the Streatham Society leading a successful partnership bid for funding from central government for environmental improvements. Work started in winter 2003–04 with the refurbishment of Streatham Green and repaving and relighting of the High Road between St Leonard's Church and the Odeon Cinema. In 2005 Streatham Green won the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association 'London Spade' award for best public open space scheme in the capital. The poll was a catalyst for
Lambeth London Borough Council and
Transport for London's Street Management to co-operate on a joint funding arrangement for further streetscape improvements, which benefited the section of the High Road between St Leonard's and Streatham station, and the stretch north of the Odeon as far as Woodbourne Avenue. The section between Woodbourne Avenue and Streatham Hill station was not completed until 2015. Streatham Festival was established in 2002. It has grown to a festival with over 50 events held in an array of locations, from bars to churches and parks to youth centres, attracting over 3,000 people. After several years of delay and controversy over phasing, construction started in the autumn of 2011 on the
Streatham Hub – a major redevelopment next to
Streatham railway station. The project was a joint development by Lambeth Council and
Tesco. The project involved the demolition of
Streatham Ice Arena, Streatham Leisure Centre and the former Streatham Bus Garage, and their replacement with a new leisure centre and a Tesco store with 250 flats above it. Streatham Leisure Centre closed in November 2009 due to health and safety concerns when part of the pool hall ceiling collapsed. Streatham Ice Arena closed on 18 December 2011, having celebrated eighty years of operation in February 2011. For two years a temporary ice rink was provided at Popes Road, Brixton. In November 2013, the new Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre opened to the public. The leisure centre houses a 60 m x 30 m indoor ice rink with 1,000 rink-side seats on the upper floors, a six-lane 25 m swimming pool, 13 m teaching pool, four-court sports hall and a gym with 100 stations. The jazz venue
Hideaway continues Streatham's long entertainment tradition. It features live performances of jazz, funk, swing and
soul music as well as
stand-up comedy nights. It won the Jazz Venue/Promoter of the Year category in the 2011
Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The venue closed indefinitely in March 2021 as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic On 2 February 2020 at around 14:00 GMT,
Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman attacked and injured two people using a machete on Streatham High Street in what police declared a terrorist incident. Alongside the machete, Amman was also wearing a vest with components made to look like
improvised explosive devices. He was pursued by armed police and was shot dead outside a
Boots pharmacy. Streatham High Road also was host to Cat's Whiskers which later became Caesar's nightclub in the early 1990s through to 2005, which closed to become the site of the newly developed block of flats with a
Marks & Spencer store and a
Starbucks outlet. ==Streatham Common==