Time Walk
Stucco and Stock Brick off Clapham Road
A music-hall comedian once called this quiet square home, between turns on the stage. Today the walk passes stuccoed villas and stock-brick terraces, several of them listed, and a school building from the 1880s with an upper floor added later.
The square sits within the area once covered by the Manor of Stockwell, and its earliest houses go back to around 1840. What the name itself means is where the trail runs out.
Name Origin
A Name Without an Answer
Nobody recorded why this square was called Durand Gardens.
The sources used here do not explain the name. What they do confirm is place: Durand Gardens lies in or near Clapham Road, within the area of the former Manor of Stockwell.
History
From Stockwell Manor to a Board School
The square's building history runs from early Victorian villas to a Board School. The oldest listed houses, Nos. 24 and 26, are a tall stuccoed pair of around 1840, each three storeys above a basement. Mid-19th-century stock-brick terraces followed at Nos. 25–31, Nos. 33 and 35, and the paired villas at Nos. 28 and 30.
In 1888 the London School Board built Durand Primary School, adjoining what is now Kennington Secondary School, as a Pupil Teachers' School. The architect was T. J. Bailey, and the contractor, H. Hart of Southwark, tendered £6,230. The building later served as a girls' secondary school, and a second floor was added in 1906, again to Bailey's design. Its south wing was damaged during the war of 1939–45 and has since been rebuilt under the supervision of Richard Nickson.
People
The Coster Comedian at No. 7
Gus Elen lived at 7 Durand Gardens from 1897 to 1899. Born Ernest Augustus Elen in Pimlico in 1862, he had already made his first solo success in 1891 by the time he moved to the square. He was known on the music-hall stage as the "Coster Comedian".
He died in 1940 at the age of 77 and is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery.
Gus Elen, who lived at 7 Durand Gardens in the late 1890s, retired from the stage in 1914 but made a comeback in the 1930s — a handful of his stage recordings survive today.
On the Map
Durand Gardens Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Durand Gardens?
The sources used here do not explain the origin of the name. The square stands in or near Clapham Road, within the area of the former Manor of Stockwell.
What is Durand Gardens known for?
Its mid-19th-century listed houses, a Board School built in 1888, and as the home of music-hall comedian Gus Elen between 1897 and 1899.
When were the houses on Durand Gardens built?
The earliest listed pair, Nos. 24 and 26, dates from around 1840; the remaining listed terraces and villas were built later in the 19th century.
What happened to Durand Primary School during the war?
Its south wing was damaged during the war of 1939–45 and was later rebuilt under the supervision of Richard Nickson.