FULHAM BROADWAY District Line (Wimbledon)

Some interesting and unusual buildings to be found round here. Can be paired with Brompton Cemetery.


















The Tube exit is via Fulham Broadway Shopping Centre. As you emerge, you will see theTown Hall opposite - a grand old building of 1888. Walk to the right - the bank over the crossroads was clearly also built to impress. Continue following Fulham Broadway and bear right to go down Vanston Place past the 1920’s Samuel Lewis Trust Dwellings, an attractive set of buildings. Notice the clever use of horizontal tiles as a decoration under the eaves.


Follow the road to the end and then turn left past the splendid Malt House pub (1900). Turn into Farm Lane skirting round the church. Looking over North End Road you may blink slightly as you set eyes on the Fulham Baths with their eclectic architecture. I particularly liked the statue of Neptune half way up the façade. Turn left and walk down North End Road, going left as it bends. Here you will discover Fiesta Havana (once the Red Lion - which explains the stone animal parading on its roof). This is a serious contender for the most confused building in London. Continue along the road, crossing Jerdan Place and make your way back to the Tube.


Just before you go back into the station, you might like to walk a little way past it to see the Oswald Stow Foundation. Established in 1915, today it provides help with housing for ex-service personnel. The gate pillars have an impressive list of battles engraved in the stone.



Football fans can have a look at Chelsea Football Club which is is just along the road. Incidentally, you might want to check that are they not playing at home before you visit the area.

From here it is only about five minutes walk to Brompton Cemetery - in fact the football ground extends all the way to it. Squashed up against the stadium wall, but just visible behind Nos. 410-416 Fulham Road is the 'Italian Village' - quaint little studios with pantiled roofs built in the 1920's round a sculptor's bronze foundry. Pseudo-ancient doors in the street wall lead to the artists' enclave (private). Among the painters who worked there were William Holman Hunt and Pietro Annigoni

After a few minutes more strolling you will see an octagonal building on the other side of the road. This was originally part of the school set up in 1841 by The National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principle of the Established Church - not what you might call a snappy title. Now apartments.

Soon you will reach the leafy avenues of Brompton Cemetery. If you wish to explore this great early Victorian burial ground, please click here to go to the entry for West Brompton Tube station.

Photos:
Red Lion: ex Church school
Town Hall: baths
Chelsea FC: Stow Foundation



MAP

This is just one walk from the many to be found at London Tube Rambles. There are architectural gems, beautiful country views, historic places and whacky buildings to be found, even in the most unpromising areas covered by the Greater London Underground stations. Usually the places listed are within a mile of the Tube - often only five minutes walk away. If you reached this as an individual page via a search engine, you might like to go to www.londontuberambles.co.uk to see the other destinations explored . You'll be amazed at what's out there!


© DR2008