By Chris Guy posted on 31 Jan 2021 in Urban

We lived in Croydon, South London from 1994 to 2001. During that time I photographed the Croydon Skyline project for Croydon Council and did a feature for Inside Housing on the nearby Roundshaw Estate.

Here are some of my favourite images of that time, shot on a mixture of 35mm and 6x9cm medium format film.

Croydon, 1997. A row of suburban semi-detached houses with fenced back gardens and washing lines, set before a large blue gas holder and electricity pylon, with a distant city skyline.

View from the Roman Way, Croydon 1997

Panoramic view of a mid-century urban town centre with mixed modern and older buildings, busy streets and blue sky.

Central Croydon, 1998

Black-and-white view over suburban garages and terraced houses towards a distant city skyline of tower blocks, bare trees and parked cars.

Gararges, South Croydon 1994

Black-and-white image of five young people walking across a vast grassy field towards a long modernist housing block beyond a line of trees.

Roundshaw Estate, Croydon 1996

Croydon 1997. Black-and-white view of a city dual carriageway lined by high-rise office buildings, with cars and a bus travelling along it.

Wellesley Road, Central Croydon 1997

Urban scene: a tall glass office tower beside mid-rise brick buildings, buses and cars on a busy road, pedestrians on pavements under a pale sky.

Nestlé Tower and the Blue Orchid Nightclub

Croydon City-centre skyline. Mid-rise office buildings overlooking a busy street packed with buses and traffic beneath a clear blue sky.

Above Wellesley Road, Croydon 1998

Croydon City centre. Skyline of mid-century office towers bathed in warm sunlight, set against a clear blue sky.

Central Croydon 1998

Central Croydon 1998. Sunlit city skyline of mid-century office blocks and a tall tower, bathed in warm light beneath a clear deep-blue sky.

Nestlé building, Central Croydon 1998

Aerial view down a sunlit high street lined with shops and terraced houses, rooftops and chimney stacks stretching to a hazy skyline.

Looking over the Drummond Shopping Centre, Croydon 1998

Outdoor market stall with red-and-white striped canopy and yellow signs for watch batteries £1.95 and leather watch straps £2.50. Crowded scene; a man holds a small black dog.

Surrey Street Market, 1999

Busy outdoor street market with striped canopies, shoppers browsing stalls and colourful shopfronts amid urban city buildings.

Surrey Street Market, 1999

Crowded street market with shoppers and stalls; two middle-aged women in dark coats walk in the foreground, surrounded by a bustling, diverse crowd and market awnings.

Surrey Street Market, 1999

Blue-painted entrance of Croydon Evangelical Church on Cranmer Road: white walls, bright blue double doors and a small "Pay Here" parking sticker.

Croydon Evengelical Church, 1999

Black-and-white image of a multi-storey building with grid windows and a rooftop "GRANTS" sign, seen at an angle with a string of lights crossing the foreground.

Grants building, Croydon 1999

Curved glass-block wall framing a distorted cityscape of colourful buildings, vivid yellow and orange facades reflected across the grid of square glass blocks.

Car Park Stairwell, Croydon 1999

Interior of a tram: yellow poles and hand straps, blue seats, a 'TRAM STOPPING' sign above and a view towards the driver’s area.

Croydon Tram (pre-launch) 1999

Croydon Skyline 1995. Lunar House bathed in projected orange light at night, beside a busy road with long traffic light trails and surrounding city buildings.

Lunar House, Illuminated during Croydon Skyline 1995

City centre at night with tall office buildings lit in vibrant neon colours, purple, blue, green and pink, and streaks of car lights along the streets.

Lunar House, Illuminated during Croydon Skyline 1995

Night-time cityscape with a tall glass office tower glowing blue, long-exposure light trails from traffic along a curved road and colourful neon-lit buildings under a dark sky.

Wellesley Road during the 1995 Croydon Skyline event

Night-time city scene: busy street lit by tall streetlights, long light trails from passing cars, wet reflective road and surrounding buildings glowing against the dark sky.

Wellesley Road during the 1996 Croydon Skyline event

Croydon Skyline 1997. Night cityscape of illuminated high-rise buildings, colourful vertical lighting and a large graphic projection on one façade, with traffic light trails on the street below.

Plan 9 From Outer Space. Projections during Croydon Skyline 1997

Suburban street with semi‑detached houses, leafless trees and parked cars; office towers glow on the skyline in warm evening light.

Croydon from Purley Way 1998

Sunset bathes Croydon city skyline with terraced houses and glowing high‑rises in golden light beneath dramatic blue and purple clouds.

Croydon at dusk. Shot from Roman Way 1998

Tagged with:
1990s film london

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