A40 Western Avenue (Acton)

 

 In the 1920's  this was a tree lined boulevard on the outskirts of London, with farmers fields all around.

The houses were large semi-detached villas with tudor features on the gables above the many bay windows.

In those days, the roadway was one lane in either direction, and the pavements were wide, the front gardens

 pretty and traffic was not too busy.

Now the scene is sadder, the pavements are narrow, the roadway is at least 3 lanes in either direction with

traffic mostly ground to a halt and carbon monoxide fumes everywhere. Firstly the gardens were shortened

by compulsory purchase as the road was widened. Then in the late 90's was a scheme to widen the road by

so much that it would be neccessary to demolish the houses either side.

After compulsory purchase, the old houses are brutally smashed up by bailiffs, and made uninhabitable  to

stop squatters from taking them over. All internal fittings, toilets and sinks, are smashed to smithereens,

and floorboards are ripped up, leaving sharp stakes pointing up and precarious gaping holes below.

The irony is that despite failed attempts by residents and owners to hang on to their homes,

and most of them being eventually demolished, the road scheme is eventually scrapped

and much of the site is now left as vacant open land and the few buildings remaining are left to decay in their

overgrown (once cared for)  gardens.

These pics are of the few remaining houses:

   

 

There is a book called Leadville about this subject