In the early years of the 20th century, nestled down the atmospheric fog-lined thoroughfare of Lamb’s Conduit Street in Holborn, stood the Grand Menagerie Portrait Studio. Located at No. 43, between a crooked clockmaker’s at No. 41 and a retired cobbler’s workshop at No. 45, this peculiar photographic parlour was active from 1897 to 1911.
Unlike the more conventional studios of the time, the Grand Menagerie was renowned — and quietly whispered about — for its highly unusual clientele and uncanny portrait techniques. Its sepia-toned photographs were unlike anything else in Edwardian London. Locals spoke in hushed tones of “lifelike images that stared back” and of sitters with peculiar features, always partially obscured by shadow or blur.
Though it operated under the pretense of serving artists, actors, and literary eccentrics, the studio was known to produce portraits of individuals who bore a striking resemblance to the strange and surreal creatures found in folklore and illustrated penny dreadfuls. Some claimed these weren’t costumes or trick photography — but real people, half-beast, half-human, captured as they truly were.
The studio shuttered abruptly in 1911. No official reason was given. The building changed hands quietly, and today, no trace of the original studio remains — though if you pass by No. 43 on a misty evening, some say you can still catch a flicker of lamplight and the faint scent of tea and camphor.
*It aint neccicerily so
Bartholomew Badgerly - Mr Theophilus Toadmere Esq - Mr Mortimer Moleworthy - Reginald (Ratty) Rivers
Harriet (Hetty) Hare & Thaddeus Terrapin
Winston P Honeypot & Percival Pigletton
Lady Ernestine Featherstone & Roopert Longstride
Lady Ernestine Featherstone
Lord Roderick Hardnose & Lady Gwendolyn
Miss Clara Whiskerfield & Mr. Reginald Barker
Mr Fox and the three piggies
Mr. Barnaby Tuskhaven & Miss Millicent Whiskerly
