Time Walk
A Lane That Outgrew the Village
A bicycle maker whose bikes raced at world championships once had his works here, remembered now only in a mews name. Walking it today, three things stand out: a run of plain, neat Victorian terraces, a converted baths-turned-leisure-centre, and that mews still carrying the old factory's name.
Beneath the brick and windows lies a street built piecemeal, by local builders working to one developer's plan, over almost twenty years. That slow, builder-by-builder growth is the key to understanding the name that greets you next.
Name Origin
An Unexplained Manor
The street was laid out in the 1820s to link the site of the old village of Clapham with new development to the south. The sources used here do not explain why it was given the name Clapham Manor Street rather than any other.
History
Cubitt's Builders, Brick by Brick
The street was laid out in the 1820s. Its houses followed more slowly: the main development ran from 1837 to 1855, carried out by local builders working for Thomas Cubitt, who put up villas and terraces along its length.
Three groups of houses from that building campaign survive and are Grade II listed: a terrace at 169–175, 175A and 175B; a pair at 72 and 74; and a pair at 142 and 144.
At No. 42 stood the Old Dispensary, built for the Clapham General and Provident Dispensary, a charity founded in 1849 and opened in its new building in 1854. It was designed free of charge by James Thomas Knowles Snr. The dispensary closed in the early 1950s, and by 1959 the building housed a London County Council occupational training centre. A major fire damaged it in 1989.
Culture
The Street That Built Champions' Bikes
Its memory survives close by: Bicycle Mews, a turning off the street, is named for the Claude Butler Cycle Works.
Industry here was not only two-wheeled. Burdette & Co., an electrical equipment firm established before the Great War, had its head office on Clapham Manor Street, building A.C. and D.C. motors, alternators, rotary converters and controllers.
Bicycle Mews, just off Clapham Manor Street, takes its name from the Claude Butler Cycle Works that once stood nearby.
People
A Developer, a Builder, an Architect
Thomas Cubitt never lived on Clapham Manor Street, but he was the developer for whom local builders raised its houses between 1837 and 1855.
Claude Butler moved his bicycle business here in 1932, four years after opening his first shop at Clapham Junction.
At No. 42, James Thomas Knowles Snr designed the Clapham General and Provident Dispensary free of charge; it opened in 1854 to serve the local poor.
Recent Times
From Slipper Baths to Spin Classes
Clapham Public Baths had opened in 1932 with a filtration system, club rooms and a swimming pool whose sprung maple floor doubled as a winter dance hall. Its slipper baths were converted into a gym in the 1990s.
The old baths building was replaced in 2012 by Clapham Better Leisure Centre, with a pool, gym and other facilities on the same site. Meanwhile, the Old Dispensary at No. 42, empty since the 1989 fire's aftermath, found new life in 2005 as a ballet school.
Today
Terraces, a Leisure Centre, and a Mews That Remembers
Walk the street now and the Victorian terraces that Cubitt's builders raised still line it, three groups of them protected as listed buildings. The Old Dispensary trains dancers where it once dispensed medicine, and the leisure centre stands where Clapham's public baths once offered a dance floor in winter. Round the corner, Bicycle Mews keeps the name of a cycle works that is otherwise gone.
On the Map
Clapham Manor Street Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Clapham Manor Street?
The sources used here record that the street was laid out in the 1820s to link old Clapham with new development to the south, but they do not explain why it was named Clapham Manor Street.
What is Clapham Manor Street known for?
Victorian terraces built for the developer Thomas Cubitt between 1837 and 1855, the Old Dispensary of 1854, and the Claude Butler Cycle Works, whose name survives in nearby Bicycle Mews.
When were the houses on Clapham Manor Street built?
The street was developed between 1837 and 1855 by local builders working for Thomas Cubitt, who put up a mix of villas and terraces along its length.
What happened to the Old Dispensary on the street?
The Clapham General and Provident Dispensary opened at No. 42 in 1854, closed in the early 1950s, housed an LCC training centre by 1959, suffered a fire in 1989, and has been a ballet school since 2005.