Even-numbered houses
The artist Frank Auerbach had studios at No. 4 and painted a number of works featuring Albert Street. One of these paintings, 'Albert Street, 2009', estimated to be worth millions of pounds, was recovered from a convicted money launder and subsequently sold by the National Crime Agency. [1]
The writer, journalist and Labour MP Dick Leonard (1930–2021), his wife Irène Heidelberger-Leonard, Professor of German Literature, their son Mark Leonard (born 1974), political scientist and author, and their daughter Miriam Leonard (born 1976), Professor of Greek Literature, have all lived at No. 18. [2] Dick Leonard died there in 2021. [3]
No. 20, known as Tudor Lodge, which has been listed Grade II by Historic England, was built in the 1840s as a house and studios for the artist Charles Lucy (1814–1873). The poet and novelist George MacDonald (1824–1905), who lived there from 1860 to 1863, described the house in his 1871 novel The Vicar's Daughter. [4] It now has a blue plaque, commemorating MacDonald, that was erected by English Heritage in 2005. [5]
The Liverpool-born writer, theatre critic and artist Beryl Bainbridge (1932−2010) lived at No. 42 for 45 years. [6] [7] [8] In 1967 she painted Napoleon Dancing at 42 Albert St, Camden Town, to the Strains of the Gramophone. [9] [10]
John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971), the Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology, lived and died at No. 44. In 2001 English Heritage placed a blue plaque there to commemorate him.
The writer and broadcaster Robert Elms (born 1959) lived at No. 74 until 2021. [11] [12]
Noel Gallagher, founder and songwriter of Oasis, lived at No. 88 prior to moving to Supernova Heights. He wrote "Champagne Supernova" and "'Wonderwall" in the flat [13] and has referred to receiving a phone call from his manager informing him that he had become a millionaire whilst living there. [14]
Odd-numbered houses
A terrace of 27 houses (Nos. 45 to 97) was built in 1845 and is Grade II listed. [15] The Yorkshire-born architect William Henry Crossland (1835–1908), who designed Rochdale Town Hall, Holloway Sanatorium and Royal Holloway College, died at No. 57 on 14 November 1908. [16] [17]
The artists Victor Willing and Paula Rego lived at No. 87 during the 1960s. [18]
Sir Tim Lankester, former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England, and the first economic private secretary to Margaret Thatcher lived at 103.
A terrace of nine houses (Nos. 123 to 139) was built in about 1845 and is Grade II listed. [19] Nos. 129 to 131 are now called Raymond Burton House, which was the location of the Jewish Museum London from 1995 to 2023, when it closed.
Bernard Miles, Baron Miles, actor and founder of the Mermaid Theatre lived at No. 139 during the 1950s. [20]
No. 141, on the corner of Albert Street and Parkway, is a pub, The Spread Eagle. [21] It is Grade II listed. [22] . The Spread Eagle featured extensively in the early life of Bruce Robinson, the creator of Withnail and I. Robinson used to go to the Spread Eagle to cash benefits cheques. [23]
