Agfacolor Slides - 1930's Leicester Scenes

Some years ago I acquired a set of colour slides on Agfacolor transparency film.which, according to Wikipedia, was introduced in 1936, a year after Kodachrome. I hope the moderators won't mind me sharing these as they are artifacts of historical interest, both because of the subject matter, and because of the then newness of the material.

 

The slides depicty scenes in and around my home city of Leicester - surely the unknown photographer has sought out colourful subjects to demonstrate the properties of the new film. I believe they were taken in the late 1930's, judging by the fashions and vehicles. No later, as during and well after the war, there would have been no chance of seeing the abundance of bananas, fruit and flowers in the Market scenes.

 

The condition of the slides is pretty good considering they are over 80 years old. They are not mounted, the film is just cut into strips. I photographed some of the locations as they are now, they will be instantly recognisable to Leicester people. The flowerbeds in De Montfort Hall Gardens had exactly the same planting scheme after 80 years!

 

Here goes then:

Kemp's Clock

 

igh Street Then

 

High Street Now

 

De Montfort Hall Gardens

 

And Now

 

 

Leicester Market

 

 

Leicester Market

 

A Midland Red coach (with sunshine roof!) outside the Flying Horse, Markfield. That's it and thanks for looking.

Thanks for sharing. A nice treasure of the past.

Be thankfull that your historic places are still recognisable , and thanks for posting these interesting photo's.

"Kewl!" :D

Interesting, thanks!

I was comparing picture #2 against Picture #4 and Picture #5 against picture #6:

 

It looks like the Trolley car is gone, also automobiles seemed to have been banned in the modern era ? It looks like 80 years ago, that thoroughfare was much busier than it is today ! Not sure if it's the fading of the film, but the area looks like it has been spruced up with new paint in picture #4 ?

 

In picture #6 the towers on the far top/left seen in picture #5 are gone. The doors on the garage are different, a bicycle rack has been added. More lamps have been added and they are more modern looking, also a park bench. The Tulip bed in the BG seems to have been removed, but it could be they have not matured yet when the picture was taken ?

Pretty neat. Our Sunday newspaper has some before and after pictures like that, taken from close to the same spot.

 

I like how so many buildings are still there, and close to the same.

Thanks to all for the comments, much appreciated as always.

It looks like the Trolley car is gone, also automobiles seemed to have been banned in the modern era ? It looks like 80 years ago, that thoroughfare was much busier than it is today ! Not sure if it's the fading of the film, but the area looks like it has been spruced up with new paint in picture #4 ?

 

Yes, the last tram ran in 1949 and the area is now pedestrianised. It's still pretty busy but High Street is less popular with shoppers these days, partly because behind the buildings on the right, the huge Highcross indoor shopping mall has been constructed. This also prompted the general cleaning up and re-paving. I think my picture was done on Sunday morning.

In picture #6 the towers on the far top/left seen in picture #5 are gone. The doors on the garage are different, a bicycle rack has been added. More lamps have been added and they are more mod

 

The building was actually the box office for the Hall, although it's no longer used as such. The flowers in my picture are Summer wallflowers, so it was taken later in the year, probably after the tulips had gone over. The towers to the top left are actually chimney stacks, now hidden behind trees. I've seen Jethro Tull twice at De Montfort Hall.

 

Kemp's Clock in the first picture is still there. It was a common meeting place - "I'll see you under the clock."

 

I'll try and post some more tomorrow, although those already shown are the most interesting - to me at least.

Edited April 14, 2021 by John Seaman

Picture #1 tells it all !

Love those !

Wow man. I love it. Western nations never looked better than between the wars. Good to see that some places still have most of their aesthetic. I admit to be surprised that the colour hasn't faded too much.

Here are a few more pictures. Another one of the policeman (heaven help you if you disobey his signals), two more of the market, another from De Montfort Hall, one perhaps from the quarry in Swithland Woods, and one of a nice lady in her garden - there are several like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, but wondering about whether they were taken in the 30s or the late 40s. I couldn't tell to be honest.

wondering about whether they were taken in the 30s or the late 40s

 

I've suggested the late 1930's because of the abundance of flowers, vegetables and fruit on the market stalls. During the war, and for a fair number of years after, things like bananas would have been very scarce. I can still remember some goods being rationed well into the 1950's.

 

Also the Leicester trams stopped running in 1949, a year after I was born. I think too that zebra stripes were added to the pedestrian crossings in the late 40's. These crossings in town were very busy, which is why they were controlled by a police officer. There would be a great mass of people on both sides. When they were signaled to cross I always wondered what would happen when they met in the middle.

I've always loved before and after shots, but only done a couple myself. Being a tech nerd I like to use any subtle clues in the before shot to shoot the after from precisely the same spot. I once matched a shot that was taken from the 2nd floor of a house no longer standing. I had to convince the local grocery store in the same spot to let me up on the roof for the after shot.

NICE, these are really lovely old images.

Looking at the cars in the 2nd pic, I'd guess 30s. Then again a few pics later there seems to be some cars that appear a bit more "rounded"- AND the somewhat shiny brick building in the pic with the rounded cars (split pc with policeman) seems to perhaps be post-war construction, suggesting mid-late 1940s. Maybe the pix were shot over a period of roughly a decade pf a little more?

 

No matter, they are fantastic. Thank you for sharing.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Ricochetrider

the somewhat shiny brick building in the pic with the rounded cars (split pc with policeman) seems to perhaps be post-war construction

 

Sorry I didn't make it clear that the right hand split picture is the scene today. Yes, the older building in the left hand old picture has been replaced by a modern style building.

 

I got the impression from looking at all the pictures, that the photographer had acquired a then new colour slide film, and tried to find colouful subjects for it. I did wonder what camera was used, perhaps a Leica or an early Kodak Retina. The shallow depth of field in one of the market pictures suggest a large aperture, as I guess the Agfacolor film was pretty slow. It's strange that the slides were never mounted, the film is just cut into strips.

I am not sure when mounted slides first appeared.

 

There were for a long time, as I remember them from school up to about 40 or so years ago,

filmstrip projectors that show a roll of half-frame 35mm film. I don't remember slides in school

at all, only filmstrips.

 

Since you have them unmounted, you can see the exact shape of the frame, which sometimes

might help identify the camera. Some have rounded corners, others not so round.

 

List of discontinued photographic films - Wikipedia

 

says initially ASA 2 - 4, and later 25.

The colour has held up remarkably well. Has it been digitally enhanced at all John?

 

It could still be improved some more, but maybe not to the point where the faded charm disappears.

 

However, taking the magenta cast out of this one helps IMO.

Has it been digitally enhanced at all John?

 

It's a few years since I scanned then, I think I did try to correct the colours, I may have overdone it in some cases. Here's a couple of photographs I just took of them on a light box, which I think is pretty neutral. If anything, they have a blue cast.

 

 

Thanks John!

They're in a lot better condition than some cut-and-mounted Ektachromes that I shot in the 1970s. Maybe the sleeves kept some airborne chemical bleaching agent away from them?

 

Whatever. They're a little slice of history that's been preserved.

Oh, BTW.

The big display of bananas in the market would place the date as either pre-WWII or after 1945.

 

Late 1930s would be my guess.

The big display of bananas in the market would place the date as either pre-WWII or after 1945.

 

I've made that point a couple of times in earlier posts. Perhaps some of the American PN members don't realise how scarce things were in the UK in wartime. And I think it was some years after 1945 before supplies of things like bananas and oranges got back to normal

Edited April 17, 2021 by John Seaman

I have some Agfa film that I shot in the early 60s, and it is nowhere near the color (even with adjustments) of your film.