Queen's Park

The next station in my series  'Above the Underground ' is Queen's Park. Opened as a railway station in 1879 and then extended in February 1915 for services on the Bakerloo line to stop here. The tube no longer travels underground from here and it shares the same train lines as Overground trains.

If you are a follower of football you may have heard of Queen's Park Rangers(QPR) which originally came from here but now they are located near Shepherd's Bush, some distance away. The area of Queen's Park was part of the site of the 1879 Royal Kilburn Agricultural Show which had been attended by Queen Victoria. After the show the 30 acre site was given to the public and was made into a public park called Kilburn Recreation Ground. In honour of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee it was renamed Queen's Park in 1887.

Walking away from the station along Salusbury Road I noticed  these smart looking studios. This building used to be a furniture depository. How do I know? Well the sign is still readable at the  side of the building 

Continuing along Salusbury road I came across Lonsdale Road. It is mentioned in a book celebrating Queen's Park centenary from recollections made by Minnie Arens in the 1890s
' Lonsdale Mews had the horses and carriages belonging to people in the big houses in |Brondesbury Park. In the mornings, people from the Manor House used to ride down to Rotten Row.' Along with the stabling, this Mews Road  was built  to accommodate local traders and artisans who were living in the new Queen's Park area. Today it is the hub of the design area and is part of the London Design festival. It includes furniture makers, architects, interior designers as well as many cafes and restaurants.

Just behind Lonsdale Road is the Old Paddington cemetery which still has space for new burials. I was a little surprised to see that part of it was a War Graves cemetery for those men from this area who were killed in WW1.

There are a number of Victorian buildings in this area including these schools. This one is dated 1893.

The infant school dates from 1889.

Across the road from the cemetery is this wonderful detached building with very interesting adornments. I haven't been able to discover anything about its history unfortunately.

Walking back along Salusbury Road to see if there is anything of interest on the other side of the station, I couldn't help but notice some of the more individual shops on this High Street.

This is Kilburn Library which is just a couple of minutes from the station. There is a Queen's Park library but not close by. Didn't make any sense to me. I popped inside to make use of the facilities (larger libraries usually have very clean toilets and I wasn't wrong!).

Inside the library is a memorial to the Old Kilburnians including teachers from the school who died in WW1, so I have to assume the old Kilburn School was located in this vicinity.




The other side of the station was quite different with its high rise flats and estates.

It also looked more run down in parts.

Street art tribute to a young boy who died at the tender age of 11.

I liked this old warehouse and it looks as though the developers are keeping its beautiful facade. 

Walking down Kilburn Lane which runs parallel to the railway line, I was intrigue by some of the road names. Investigating further I came across a very differently styled housing estate. With turrets, Gothic features, gabled porches and small gardens, these tree lined wide roads were a delight.

2000 of these small houses were built from 1874 by the Artisans, Labourers and General Dwellers Company for the working classes. The roads were named First Ave, Second Ave up to Sixth Avenue whilst other roads were given letters of the alphabet from A to P. Since then they have been given full names: Alperton Street, Barfett Street, Caird Street, Droop Street and so on.