Newington Green, London N16

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Brief description

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newington_Green

2025: "Newington Green is an open space in North London between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, Green Lanes and Matthias Road to the north, and Boleyn Road to the east. The Green is in N16 and the area is covered by the N16, N1 and N5 postcodes. Newington Green Meeting House is situated near the park. 

numbers 52–55 is London's oldest surviving brick terrace

This outlying area of Islington carries a surprising wealth of historic architecture and Newington Green has become a conservation area, and contains three Grade II listed buildings. On the west side of the Green (numbers 52–55) is London's oldest surviving brick terrace, which is Grade I listed. These were built in 1658, and 100 years later were home to Price and Rogers. Over the subsequent centuries many changes were made, internally and externally, in particular adding an extra storey to one of the middle houses and replacing its narrow staircase with a wider one with mid-Georgian detailing. At an unknown date the windows were enlarged and changed from mediaeval oak and leaded light mullion and transom pattern to Georgian vertically sliding sash windows.[62] In the 1880s the floor levels of the front rooms were lowered to street level and shop fronts were added to all of them. In the 1980s the houses were in such poor condition that there was a serious danger of them collapsing.

The Greater London Council bought three of them, carried out major structural repairs and sold them on to private clients. In 1994 conservation architects Roger Mears Architects were appointed to repair and/or reinstate the hugely significant plasterwork, panelling, doors, windows and other joinery and to return the houses to use as single family dwellings. New brick ground floor frontages replaced the shopfronts, to a design appropriate to the elevations above, and the first floor brick cornice was reinstated.[63] Residential London, particularly outside Westminster and the city, is essentially an 18th- or 19th-century city. Even in the centre, there are few brick houses this old, pre-dating the Great Fire of 1666. One of the properties has been extensively renovated under the guidance of Bere Architects (Islington).

To the north is the Unitarian Church, which celebrated its tercentenary in 2008. The original 1708 building was financed with £300 from goldsmith Edward Harrison.[64] It was a "substantial brick building, of nearly square form, with the high, tiled, projecting roof, common at its era".[65] "Historic views show that the original façade had a small pediment against a large hipped roof, with a central oval window below."[66] This building was substantially extended and improved in the mid-19th century. An internal gallery was built to increase the seating available, and a few years later the roof and apse were renewed, and a "stuccoed frontage" was built, "mirroring the original façade with a three-bay front with two round-headed windows, but with added Tuscan pilasters and a large pediment".[67] In the mid-20th century, the building was damaged by enemy action. In 1953 its architectural importance was recognised as a Grade II listed building.[68]

Along from the Unitarian Church is the Mildmay Club, which was founded on 18 August 1888 as the Mildmay Radical Club and was originally located at 36 Newington Green Road south of Newington Green. In 1894 it moved to new premises at 34 Newington Green. Membership of the club rose from 1,000 in February 1896 to 2,400 in January 1899, eventually peaking at 3,000 members, and the current building was completed 1901 by Alfred Allen[69]. Largely due to its preserved 1960s/70s interior and Queen Anne frontage,[70] it is a popular location for film and photography, the income from which supports ongoing renovations and accessibility upgrades of the building.

The China Inland Mission, one of two Grade II listed buildings on Newington Green. (October 2005)

Angel Chiropody is a post-60's example of Brutalist Architecture

To the west is its neighbour, the former headquarters of the China Inland Mission, an organisation founded by James Hudson Taylor in 1865 and responsible for 18,000 converts to Christianity.[71]"

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Newington Green, London N16

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newington_Green

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