Time Walk
A Georgian Lane Behind the Name
This short Brixton street was once simply the way to the church. Walking it today, the eye settles on the villa at No. 5, standing above its own semi-basement behind an Ionic-columned porch. The street's quiet, residential scale has changed little since it was first set out.
Beneath that modern surface lies a late-Georgian layout, drawn up on land that belonged to a banker from Esher. The road's current name is a puzzle the records here do not solve — which is exactly where its story must begin.
Name Origin
From Church Row to Prima Road
Prima Road was laid out about 1794. At that date the land belonged to John Wright of Esher, a banker, and the new road was known as Church Row or Church Street.
At some point the street took the name it carries now. The sources used here do not explain why "Prima" replaced the earlier church-lane name, and nothing further is offered on the point.
History
A Banker's Estate and a Surviving Villa
The street's earliest history is tied to the Wright estate at Brixton. Within a few years of the road being laid out, building leases were being granted along it.
At No. 5, formerly Severn House, a building lease was granted in 1801 to William Broadhurst. The house is a stock brick villa raised above a semi-basement, with a rusticated and stuccoed ground floor set either side of a central entrance sheltered by a broad Ionic-columned porch, its corner piers carrying anthemion-ornamented heads and bearded male mask keystones over the windows.
The villa at No. 5 Prima Road carries bearded male mask keystones above its windows, part of the original 1801 design under its Ionic-columned porch.
People
A Banker and a Builder
Two named figures stand behind the street's early years. John Wright of Esher, a banker, owned the land when the road was laid out in 1794. William Broadhurst took the building lease for No. 5 in 1801, raising the villa that still stands there today.
On the Map
Prima Road Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Prima Road?
The sources used here do not explain the name. The street was laid out about 1794 as Church Row or Church Street, on land belonging to John Wright of Esher, a banker, and the current name is not accounted for in these records.
What is Prima Road known for?
Its best-known building is No. 5, a Georgian villa built in 1801 under a lease to William Broadhurst, with an Ionic-columned porch and carved mask keystones. It was listed Grade II in 1981.
When was Prima Road laid out?
About 1794, on the Wright estate at Brixton, when the land belonged to John Wright of Esher, a banker.