Gandolfi: pilgrimmage to the sites of the Gandolfi workshops

[Mark Sampson]

This should be a fun project; when you are done please share the results with us. I'd love to see them.
I had a similar idea once, which was to photograph the lens manufacturing plants of Rochester, NY. But I moved away before getting very far with it.

[GPX]

It turns out that the 84 Hall Road (renamed Cheltenham Road) and 2 Borland Road workshops are just around the corner from each other. This is starting to make sense. The 84 Hall Road workshop is now a chemist shop. Here are the Google Streetview images of the two sites.

[Oren Grad]

This is fun, but it's not really about cameras or accessories. Flipped a coin between "history" and "travel"; "history" won. Please do carry on!

[Scott Sharp]

According to the Gandolfi brochure I have these are the dates for the various workshops:

1885 Louis Gandolfi opens first workshop at 15a Kensington Place Westminster
1913 firm moves to Hall Road, Peckham Rye
1928 they moved again to what had been a Victorian hatpin works at Borland Road, Peckham Rye
where they remained until 1982.
1982 Gandolfi company was transferred to Brian Gould at Hampshire Design

Interesting project, more vintage photos for comparison if available would be welcome as well. Looking forward to seeing
the current photos of the sites made with your Gandolfi.

[GPX]

Thanks for the dates, very useful.

[jb7]

The next site was 752 Old Kent Road, London. That is a large road in a fairly downmarket part of town. I think the Gandolfi site is now a Toys R Us superstore, so nothing remains of the original workshop. But at least I can photograph the approximate location.

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Currently a car park for Toys are Us. I've parked there, buying Nerf Guns for the nephews; there's really nothing to see there anymore. On old map of London shows a row of buildings on that site, there is no memory of it now...

Perhaps a campaign for a Blue Plaque is in order...

[Kevin Crisp]

I think the new HQ of the Order of the Phoenix is in one of these places. It can be hard to see, though.

[brighamr]

hi GPX

looking thru an old magazine I saw a note from Fred saying he would be vacating the Borland rd factory
and that anybody wishing to contact him about
cameras should write to his home at 21 shelbury rd Peckham rye SE22 0NL
and that his son Louis was continuing to make the cameras at portway house west portway Andover

robin

[GPX]

That's excellent info! Do you know the date of the magazine?

[GPX]

Here is a picture of the houses on Shelbury Road according to Google street view. Exactly the sort of houses I would have expected really. I might do a "drive-by pilgrimage" some time.