The Horsmans were also busy working on three or four of the buildings and at least one rollercoaster ride at the 1908 White City Exhibitionġ91 Portobello Road must have been a busy little yard, factory and business.
By 1896 the whole block was filled up with buildings. Just past and next to the saw mill were a stables and a garage for Hansom Cabs. In 1862 there was only Finch’s pub, the Chapel, and shops north up to the saw mill on the block. Chambers probably built the first saw mill and timber yard on the site as shown in the 1862 map. Pocock sold the south side of Blenheim Crescent to a Charles Chambers, who is described as a Timber Merchant and Engineer. He had sold (and bought back) land to the other big developer in the area – Blake. It seems he did not have any money of his own, but operated as an intermediary. The owner/developer of the block between Elgin Crescent and Blenheim Crescent was a solicitor Thomas Pocock who was active elsewhere in the Ladbroke Estate. The development of the Ladbroke Estate was like the Wild West, a tangled web of frontier capitalism with developers going bankrupt, buying land off each other and my favourite – lending someone the money to buy the land off you. Woodyard looking South from Blenheim Crescent/Talbot Rd (early 1900s).
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