Earlier this week I went to a charming photography exhibition about Croydon architecture at Stanley Arts. ‘Framing Croydon: The Buildings that Shape us’ is a community-based exhibition that explores the buildings and places which the people of Croydon hold dear.

The borough’s residents sent in photos of spaces around Croydon that they found special to them. The winning entries are currently on display in the Gallery at Stanley Arts, until next Friday, 20 September.

Photos depict a wide variety of spaces up and down the borough, from our iconic structures like No. 1 Croydon and Park Hill’s water tower, to lesser-known landmarks such as Croydon Astronomical Society’s observatory in Kenley, as well as highlighting the everyday from homes and high streets, to supermarkets, stations and green spaces.

The exhibition is neatly curated into the following themes:

• Skies and angles
• Commuter communities
• Croydon nights
• Community walks
• Peace, love and a dinosaur
• Urban colours
• South East streets
• Changing times
• Valley of the crocus

I’ll leave the dinosaur to your imagination – or wait until you visit.

One of the elements I find particularly charming about the exhibition are the comments from the photographers that accompany their images. These really personalise the architecture, placing people at the heart of Croydon’s buildings and spaces.

From people reminiscing or relaying a building’s history to others telling anecdotes or simply what they like about the building, here’s a few snippets from my favourites:

“These rainbow stairs provide a splash of colour in the middle of Surrey Street. It echoes the bright colours of the fruit stalls. The rainbow also became a symbol of hope during the COVID pandemic which meant the stairs took on even more meaning.”
(Rainbow Staircase, Surrey Street – Lorna Wall)

“This photo was taken on my wedding night in January 2024 – after our ceremony at the Town Hall, we’d booked the penthouse suite at Ten Degrees Tower for a one-night honeymoon. We were really struck by how tiny No.1 Croydon (our tallest building until 2009) looked from this vantage point, and how quickly progress can overtake you.”
(View from the Penthouse of Ten Degrees Tower – Stuart Boyland)

“It reminds me of a Mexican Red Knee Tarantula”
(Regus Centre, Lansdowne Road – John Okeefe)

“When I was a kid growing up in Croydon it seemed like New York with all its skyscrapers, walking in from Purley Leon House was always the first skyscraper you came to and is probably responsible for my love of brutalist architecture”
(Leon House, Fairfield – Nathan Hook)

“I Love Angles!”
(Ten Degrees Croydon – Loic)

It’s no accident that this exhibition coincides with the upcoming Open House programme (which we featured last week). So if you venture to South Norwood for Open House make sure you pop in.

If you miss the physical exhibition you can still access some of the photos on the online gallery here. 

Find out more about the exhibition on the Stanley Arts website and follow Framing Croydon on Instagram here.

Open weekdays 10am till 3pm – free entry and no booking required.

Photos courtesy of Framing Croydon. Strip 1: Angelica Marats (Winner – Best Selfie); Micah Bob-Jones (Winner – Best photographer 0-13). Strip 2: John O’Keefe (Winner of Best photographer +18); Ratha Senthinathan (Winner Hidden Gems). Strip 3: Stuart Boyland (Winner NIghtscapes); Bashirul Yead. Gallery photo by Josh Thaker. 

Posted by Julia