Hackford Road

Hackford Road runs north to south through Oval, sandwiched between Clapham Road to the west and Brixton Road to the east. It is a quiet residential street of early Victorian terraced houses, many dating to the 1820s, their stucco facades and sash windows still intact from the era when the street itself was countryside.

2015

Hackford Road, Brixton

Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Today

Mowll Street, Oval — near Hackford Road

Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0

The street’s identity is inseparable from two things: a painter who lived in one house for eighteen months, and a museum that holds the rarest letters and types from the history of printing. But neither of these came by accident. The street had to change its name first.

When the street first appeared on maps in the 1830s, it bore the name St Ann’s Road. This name persisted through the 1840s and 1850s—a simple dedication to a parish saint, common in London’s expanding suburbs. By the early 1860s, the name had vanished. Maps from the mid-1870s show only Hackford Road, yet the exact moment and reason for the change are not recorded. The origin of the name itself remains uncertain; no deed, council minute, or historical document explains who Hackford was or why the street inherited his name.

The shift happened during a time of rapid suburban development. British History Online records that the area around Hackford Road stood on land that had been part of Lambeth Wick Estate, once appurtenant to the Manor of Lambeth and granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the medieval period. By the 1820s the estate had been subdivided and developed into terraced housing. The name change from St Ann’s to Hackford may have reflected a local landowner or builder involved in these developments, but without primary sources, this remains speculation.

Hackford Road stands where there was once open countryside and in historical documents is often referred to as part of Stockwell. The first appearance of residents was in the building of small houses and shops at the north end of the street in the 1820s, none of these buildings remain but can be seen below. In the post war years Hackford Road took on a shabbier appearance, many of the cottages and terraces were run down and occupied beyond their natural capacity. In a move to regenerate the area the local authority built the Caldwell Gardens housing estate alongside Hackford Road while private developers had their eye on flattening many of the early victorian cottages on the south eastern side of the street.

In 1973, when Lambeth Council declared 63 to 79 Hackford Road a conservation area, stating that the Victorian villas form part of the original development of Stockwell and the loss of these properties would be regrettable, the conservation area imposed strict building and alteration rules on this part of the street. The listing of number 87 as Grade II followed swiftly, anchoring the street firmly in the borough’s protected heritage.

Van Gogh sketched the Georgian terrace opposite Durand School in Hackford Road during the 1870s. He sketched the 1824-built, three-storey Georgian terrace including the house, opposite Durand School, using pencil with chalk highlights. He lettered the wall “Hackford Road” and the gate “Maison Loyer”. But his happiness was marred by his unrequited love for Eugenie Loyer. He eventually left number 7 in summer 1874 after declaring his feelings and discovering that she was already engaged.

The artist Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) lived at 87 Hackford Road, then the house of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie, in 1873 and 1874. He arrived in London to start work at the art dealership Goupil & Co. in Southampton Street, central London, on 19 May 1873. From August of that year, van Gogh lived in Hackford Road. Though Van Gogh’s love for Eugenie was unrequited, his time at Hackford Road is said to be some of the happiest of his life.

The young Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh was sent to London in 1873 by his employers, the Dutch art dealer Goupil & Co, in order to work in their Covent Garden branch. The 20-year-old Van Gogh carried a sketchbook on his walks around South London, but he had not yet found his vocation as a painter. The works for which he became famous date largely from the last five years of his life, and include Sunflowers (1888) and The Starry Night (1889). However British culture had an enormous impact on him and his later development as an artist.

87 Hackford Road’s link to the painter was only discovered in 1971 by postman and avid Van Gogh enthusiast Paul Chalcroft, who took it upon himself to locate Van Gogh’s London home during a postal strike. At the time, the house’s residents were Arthur and Marjorie Smith. The Smiths had moved to Hackford Road in the early 1950s and were baffled to learn that the eponymous artist had lived at the house. This discovery was made in 1971 and the blue plaque followed in 1973.

Built in the 1820s, by 2012 the property had fallen into a state of disrepair. Bordering on dereliction, the building was purchased at auction by James Wang and Alice Childs, who saw the potential to bring this cultural landmark back to life. Conservation works took place over 7 years, guided by an ambition to save as much existing material as possible, and making sensitive repairs where necessary. Opening in March 2019 after a major conservation project, The Van Gogh House London is conceived as an evolving opportunity to support emerging artists to make a living from their work in their lifetime - something Van Gogh himself was never able to achieve. The house is a space for research and learning; hosting contemporary exhibitions and artist residencies; alongside a programme of public tours, events and education activities.

Hackford Road remains a quiet residential street of Victorian terraces, with little visible change to its streetscape beyond gentle restoration. The blue plaque at number 87 marks van Gogh’s presence with quiet certainty, drawing art historians and curious visitors. The house itself operates as Van Gogh House London, open by tour and hosting artist residencies and exhibitions. One hundred years of anonymity was reversed in a single discovery; now the street’s connection to the painter is its defining identity.

At the southern end, the Type Museum continues as a world-class archive. The conservation area, first designated exactly one hundred years after van Gogh’s arrival, protects the early Victorian terraces and enforces sensitivity to the street’s character. The street runs quietly between two major roads, overlooked by the hurrying traffic on Clapham Road and Brixton Road, yet it holds two irreplaceable collections: one of sketches and love letters, the other of metals and type.