I was exploring the west side of Leicester's London Road yesterday, but most of the large Victorian and Edwardian houses have long since vanished. One of these was The Elms - home of J.W. Black, who was the last Liberal MP for Harborough (1923-4).
So here is a shot of a building on the east side. The Regency Hotel was originally a pair of houses: Coleshill on the left and The Crest on the right.
The Crest was the home of John Denzil Jarvis, who had the misfortune to be one of the four Leicester people who died when the Titanic went down in 1912.
Coleshill and The Crest were combined after World War II as a convent for an order of Franciscan nuns. The building also served as a chapel for the area's Roman Catholics until the church of St Thomas More opened in Knighton Road in 1952.
Intresting as ever Jonathon, but I think you exaggerate when you say "most of the large Victorian and Edwardian houses have long since vanished", I would say "most" of them are still there. Of course ther are gaps (especially nearer Victoria Park) but there is still much of interest on that side of the road.
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