A Hendon father and son are the brains behind a new book which show the dramatic changes to the borough over the last 100 years.

Author Clive Smith, 64, joined forces with his photographer son David, 41, to produce Golders Green Past & Present, the changing face of the area and its people.

The book describes how people have played such an important role in the development of the area and how the area has changed.

Clive explained: "We have endeavoured to describe the development of Golders Green and some of the personalities who played a part in its remarkable transition from rural tranquillity into the modern bustling cosmopolitan suburb that it is today."

Modern photography is combined with older pictures to show changes in transport and fashion and the developing character of streets and districts.

None of this could have been done, said David, without their collection of old photographs, some of which have never been published, from the pair's picture library Memories in Brent Street, Hendon.

"You can see the difference between what was and what's new. Sometimes things change beyond belief which is why pictures, both old and new, are so important to provide the reader with proof of such a contrast," David explained.

Although some photographs were difficult to reproduce, David enjoyed every minute of the four weeks it took to complete the project.

"Sometimes I had to stand in the middle of a busy road to ensure the correct angle of the older photograph was taken," he said.

One chapter of the 125-page book concentrates on Hampstead Garden Suburb. Its founder, Dame Henrietta Barnett (1851-1936) appears alongside the men largely responsible for creating the suburb Sir Raymond Unwin and Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The 240-acre site was bought from Eton College Trustees by the then newly-formed Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust in March 1906. This was the first time the land had changed hands since the reign of Henry VIII.

The story of the Lido Picture House in Golders Green Road may interest film fanatics. It opened in October 1928 as the first "atmospheric cinema" in the country. After the number of screens had been tripled, it was changed into an ABC cinema in 1929 until 1977.

The photographs above show the building as it was then and the three-storey block which replaced it after the cinema's demolition in 1987.

Ivy House in North End, Golders Green, where the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova lived from 1912 until her death in 1931, also features, as does the Golders Green home of ventriloquist Arthur Prince.

According to the book, he paid £3 and 15 shillings for his dummy Jim and lived in Ravenscroft Avenue for many years before his death in 1948.

David added: "We were approached by Sutton Publishing Limited because of our Brent Street shop and our collection of old pictures and our obvious interest in local history. Some of our pictures have never been published before and the past and present theme really does work."

November 28, 2001 19:50

SARAH MILLS