Historic Photographs from Beckenham, England (near London)

A very useful site on the history of Beckenham, England is found at http://www.beckenhamhistory.co.uk/.

Beckenham was close to the munitions factories that the British constructed during the First World War at Arsenal.

It was also close to other unique and important modern milestones in the London area, including the Chrystal Palace, one of the hallmarks of modernist architecture. You'll find a useful gallery of local historic photographs with links to their galleries.  Especially helpful are the galleries on the Chrystal Palace, the great architectural project of the architect John Paxton that debuted at the international exhibition of 1851 and survived until 1936 when it was engulfed by fire.

Here is a link to a gallery of historic images of the Chrystal Palace.

Figure 1.  Phillip Henry Delamatote, Crystal Palace General view from Water Temple, (1854).  Calotype photograph print made from a paper negative, in a process developed from about 1839.

Figure 2. Phillip Henry Delamotte, Upper Gallery of the Chrystal Palace, (1853-1854)  Calotype black and white photograph. 

See the discussion of Delamotte in Russell R. Brettell, Modern Art, 1851-1929. (Oxford, 1999), pp. 1 - 4.