Hendrick Avenue in times past
The history of Hendrick Avenue can be divided into three distinct periods: 1887 - 1914, 1914 - 1975 and 1975 to the present.
1887-1914 The 21 houses in Estcourt Road, as it was initially named, were built around 1887. England was nearing the end of a long economic recession and the target market for these new houses was the increasingly prosperous middle-class families who could afford to maintain one or two live-in servants. By the time of the 1891 census, all the houses were sold or let, with 16 houses occupied by families employing a total of 21 live-in servants. Only 5 houses managed without live-in servants.
The school leaving age in 1887 was 10. When a girl’s education was over, many girls assisted in the family home for a year or two. Teenage girls brought up in villages would then become servants with families in the village. Many girls found village life dull and wanted the excitement of towns and cities. However, parents were reluctant to allow this before the age of 16. In Estcourt Road there were just eight teenage servants, aged 16 to 19, all but one from villages.
In the 1901 census numbers 26 and 42 were unoccupied, while the number of live-in servants had declined to 14. In the 1911 census just one house, number 34, was unoccupied and the number of live-in servants had declined to 9.
In 1913 Estcourt Road was renamed Hendrick Avenue to avoid confusion with Estcourt Road in Fulham. Both roads were in the SW postal area but had the authorities waited until postal districts were introduced, the two roads could have existed quite happily as Estcourt Road SW6 and Estcourt Road SW12. If you look carefully at the porch of 30 Hendrick Avenue, you will see the name Estcourt Villa, perhaps the only reminder of the road’s past name.
1914-1975 WW1 abruptly ended the era of live-in servants. Women were required to undertake the work previously carried out by those men who had joined the armed services. Women were also employed as nurses in battle zones and in English hospitals where many of the wounded soldiers were brought. They were fully involved in the war effort.
In the 1921 census just one of the houses, number 34, was vacant and nine of the other houses had been converted into multiple occupation. 35 households, comprising 114 residents were living in 20 houses. Most of the tenants were young couples, some with a young child.
In the 1939 Register many of the male residents had already been called up for war service leaving just 66 residents, 23 males and 43 females. Three houses were vacant (18, 34 and 40) and two houses (32 and 36) had vacant rooms. Only eight houses were not in multiple occupation.
Many hundreds of South London houses were destroyed during WW2 but Hendrick Avenue survived unscathed. These houses provided much needed accommodation for those returning from war, marrying and setting up home for the first time. Although Balham has long enjoyed easy tube and overground access to central London it was not seen as a popular destination for young families.
The 1958 Peter Sellers hit record ‘Balham - Gateway to the South’, opened the area to much ridicule. A short Ian Freeman film from 1979 based on the same material, only served to remind people of Balham’s joke status. It probably helped to keep house prices low for a while. Neasden, in north London, suffered a similar fate at the hands of Private Eye.
1975 to present With London house prices increasing steadily in the 1970s, baby boomers began to realise that Balham had many well-built houses from the Victorian era. Most were in a poor state of repair after 60 years of multiple occupation and needed much modernisation. Rents were low so many landlords chose to sell rather than invest in improvements. It took about 10 years before a reasonable number of houses had been properly restored. It was only then that the area began to attract wider interest.
In the early 1980s most houses in Hendrick Avenue were in multiple occupation but this began to change. Number 32 was let out by the room/floor and residents included a policeman’s widow, a retired clerk and a couple of mini-cab drivers. A turning point came in 1986 when the house was sold to a member of the Peerage and refurbished by him as their family home. Today, only two houses remain in multiple occupation, just one more than in 1891.
The first basement rooms were constructed at number 38 in 1991, but the idea did not catch on at once. The second basement was excavated in 1999 and by 2011 a further 11 basements were excavated, in each case creating around 35% extra floor area. The arrival of workers from eastern Europe in 2004 probably hastened the process.
Sources of Information
The censuses for 1891, 1901, 1911 and 1921 plus the 1939 Register, drawn up in haste at the start of WW2, are all available online through various providers and give full details of all residents on the census date.
The records of the 1931 census were destroyed in an accidental fire and no census was taken in 1941 on account of the War. Personal details in the 1951 census will not be made available until 2051.