Thread by @JasonHazeley

There is, not far from Clapham South station, a thing I've seen nowhere else. It's this. (1/6)

It's a wall, next to a three-storey house, on the grounds of a rather grand Victorian villa which is now a school. (2/6)

When I first saw it, I thought it was odd to leave a wall standing after demolishing a building. And the more I thought about it, the odder it seemed. (3/6)

So I approached a local historian to see if he had any skinny on it. And he did a bit of digging. And the story is MADDER than I could possibly have imagined. (4/6)

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy Austrian-born jeweller called Joseph Lindner. He lived in the grand villa, the very edge of which you can see on the right. (5/6)

Then, someone bought the plot of land next door and built the large house you can see on the left. Lindner was outraged that his new neighbours could see in to his garden. So he BUILT THAT BIG FUCKING WALL to block their view. And there it remains, a giant brick fuck-you. (6/6)