Leonard Bentley
Fleet Street
This is a photograph which has been taken by an amateur photographer and then developed and printed as a postcard. The location of the photograph is the roof of Ludgate House at 107-111, Fleet Street, EC4. It is situated at the corner of Fleet Street and Farringdon Street at the northwest quadrant of Ludgate Circus. Ludgate House was built in 1873 for Thomas Cook & Sons and was extended in 1906 when the group of winged Merboys were placed on the dome, but at the time of the photograph it had a mixed occupancy. The view is looking east towards St. Paul’s Cathedral up Ludgate Hill, the south tower of the west face of the Cathedral can be seen through the murk and the spire of another Wren church, St. Martin within Ludgate. Immediately below the figures is a bird’s eye view of the Ludgate Railway Bridge. The question is, what the devil are they doing on top of Ludgate House? There are a few clues on the reverse, written in pencil is the name of A. Hewett & Sons and the date 1931. The company was a printing company and had offices in the building, this may just be literally “High Jinks” or something to do with the obscure world of printers’ practices and apprentice initiations, but the three look too old to be apprentices. The company went bankrupt in late 1933, perhaps their employees were not doing the work. Ludgate House survived the blitz as did St. Martins and is now a Grade 1 listed building. If anyone knows or can shed light on what they were doing on the roof…
Fleet Street
This is a photograph which has been taken by an amateur photographer and then developed and printed as a postcard. The location of the photograph is the roof of Ludgate House at 107-111, Fleet Street, EC4. It is situated at the corner of Fleet Street and Farringdon Street at the northwest quadrant of Ludgate Circus. Ludgate House was built in 1873 for Thomas Cook & Sons and was extended in 1906 when the group of winged Merboys were placed on the dome, but at the time of the photograph it had a mixed occupancy. The view is looking east towards St. Paul’s Cathedral up Ludgate Hill, the south tower of the west face of the Cathedral can be seen through the murk and the spire of another Wren church, St. Martin within Ludgate. Immediately below the figures is a bird’s eye view of the Ludgate Railway Bridge. The question is, what the devil are they doing on top of Ludgate House? There are a few clues on the reverse, written in pencil is the name of A. Hewett & Sons and the date 1931. The company was a printing company and had offices in the building, this may just be literally “High Jinks” or something to do with the obscure world of printers’ practices and apprentice initiations, but the three look too old to be apprentices. The company went bankrupt in late 1933, perhaps their employees were not doing the work. Ludgate House survived the blitz as did St. Martins and is now a Grade 1 listed building. If anyone knows or can shed light on what they were doing on the roof…