13 Emperors Gate: underground sound.

One man's detail is another man's anal retention, with one or other of these things being what it's all about round here. And so to the dullest photo I've ever taken: above, the view from a District Line train as it pulls out of Gloucester Road station. I was on said train the other day when it occurred to me that the tracks run directly behind the site of John's old flat on Emperors Gate. As readahs will know, this block was demolished in the 1980s to provide space for a new office building, the back of which can, thrillingly, be seen above.
The following map shows the position of number 13 relative to the train tracks:


Thus the daytime and evening clatter of tube carriages must have been a constant background sound at number 13, and commuters (possibly creepily) would have been able to catch glimpses of activity chez-Lennon through his rear windows, had they only known.
The recent "non-sale" sale of Astrid's photos threw up a number of previously unseen images captured in the living room there. Pity about the watermarks:


It all looks fairly subfusc, and a great contrast to the coming acid grandeur of Kenwood:

13 Emperor's Gate: then unt now.

The above fan photo of John has appeared on both Tammy's and Sara's respective (and respected) blogs of late. It's interesting, because it is one of the very few fan photos to have emerged of John outside his first family home in London (and environs) - namely, 13 Emperor's Gate. Why there aren't more is something of a mystery; there were certainly affordable mass market cameras available in the early 1960s... and photos of the gurlz hanging around wherever a Fab was rumoured to be, also usually show a few of these cameras, primed and ready. Perhaps there is a glut of unseen photos buried in desk drawers and old photo albums, in various unknown places. Perhaps not.
Anyway, as has been mentioned in previous posts, the block John lived in is no more. The spot where the above girls were standing can be seen below, roughly beside the silver car on the bottom left:

From Emperor's Gate to Weybridge: ca. July, 1964.

These pics show John and Cyn (and Paul) outside Emperor's Gate, purportedly on the very day that the Lennons moved from there to Kenwood. That's the story, anyway - and the photos must date from around that time, at least. If so, it seems an acoustic guitar was the last man out.


John only occupied the 4th floor flat at Emperor's Gate for around 9 months, under the name "Hadley" (a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to put the "kids" off his trail). Kenwood was the third house on St George's Hill that the Hadleys viewed (I wonder what the other two were), and must have initially seemed so secluded as to be unfindable by Ver Fanz. Oh dear.


UPDATE: The eagle-eyed db noted in comments that these pics were posted back to front - so they have now been corrected. It's unclear if the car interior shots above were also the wrong way round, but I've assumed they were, and done them too. Thus, a "then and now" shot becomes possible (I couldn't see it before, for obvious reasons (related to my idiocy)); John's block has been demolished, and replaced by office buildings:

Pre-Kenwood: Emperor's Gate.

Of all the places John stayed at for any time in Britain, it is the flat he shared with Cyn at 13 Emperor's Gate in London that is least documented. This was where he lived immediately before moving to St. George's Hill, and there are relatively few photos in circulation of their time there.
The first two here were taken by Astrid Kirchherr who was over for a visit. This was a couple of months before going to Kenwood, and she remembers John complaining about his lack of freedom at that time - hence the move. The third photo is from a party at Emperor's Gate after one of the Beatles' Christmas shows in 1963. The last, of course, was used as the cover for In His Own Write, and was taken in the kitchen of the same flat. Having said all that, there must be some fan photos out there somewhere....and that first photo of Astrid's is a good example of her art.