In the early 20th century, Britain’s streets were changing and in 1903 it had just passed the Motor Car Act, which raised the urban speed limit from 14mph to 20mph, and introduced new ideas such as driving licenses.
When Sicilian Avenue first opened in 1910, its pedestrianised street was an act of intent, and a vision of London’s future. In the early 20th century, Britain’s streets were changing and in 1903 it had just passed the Motor Car Act, which raised the urban speed limit from 14mph to 20mph, and introduced new ideas such as driving licenses (although there was still no driving test, you could just buy one for five shillings).
Sicilian Avenue was a little push back against the relentless tide of motorisation in cities, with architect R J Worley creating a pedestrianised avenue with notes of Italian marble and white terracotta, an antidote, perhaps, to a booming industrial automotive age in which Vauxhall moved out of London’s Vauxhall and towards roomier Luton and the mass-production of cars picked up speed.
Sicilian Avenue began construction in 1906, at a time of profound change for the capital. In 1900, almost every vehicle in London was horse-drawn, with 300,000 horses hauling private carriages, delivery vans and even buses. Just eight years later, the city was transformed: horse buses and horse trams had been replaced by motor taxis. Electric trams began to open across the city, and by 1914 were carrying 800 million passengers a year.
Sicilian Avenue was not London’s first pedestrian street; that honour goes to Woburn Walk, not far away at the northern end of Bloomsbury, designed by architect Thomas Cubitt. But to opt for a pedestrianised approach in 1910 must have seemed a deliberate attempt to swim against the tide (there’s also the distinctive Italianate look of Sicilian Avenue, with its Ionic columns at each end a classical flourish which recalled centuries and millennia in which the motor car was but a distant dream).
To dare to dream of bygone decades must have made the opulent Sicilian Avenue and its baroque revival style (complete with turrets!) seem even more unusual as it was first unveiled. But it was perhaps a far-sighted vision of London’s future. The pedestrianisation of Carnaby Street, not long after the height of its fame as a centre of Swinging London in the cities, marked a new era for the capital - an era that is set to shape its future while recalling its past.
It’s now clear that people enjoy pedestrianised streets, and businesses benefit - research by Sicilian Avenue found that 63% of consumers saying they are more likely to choose eating and drinking places in pedestrianised locations because they are more calm and serene. And with proposals to make areas of Oxford Circus and Regent Street St James walkable in the coming years, the decisions behind Sicilian Avenue in 1910 seem all the more visionary.