Gibson Gardens is a historic tenement block of flats in Stoke Newington in London, England.
The flats were built by the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes in 1880 and named in honour of Thomas Field Gibson, who was a Director of the Association from its inception. [1] [2] [3] It originally comprised three brick blocks of flats and a row of 'cottages' which originally housed older relations of people living in the blocks. A further block (the 'paddlesteamer' block) was built later. They were originally called Gibson Buildings and were some of the first quality dwellings for working and lower-middle-class families in London.
The buildings are located near the corner of Northwold Road and Stoke Newington High Street (A10), close to Stoke Newington Common.
They were renovated in 1975 but many period features survive, including the rare cobblestone street surfaces.
Gibson Gardens was a location for shooting the video of the 2007 single Back to Black by Amy Winehouse and the 2015 film Legend starring Tom Hardy. Scenes from the "Screen Two" presentation "Heading Home" (1990) starring Gary Oldman, Joely Richardson, Steven Dillane & Stella Gonet was also shot in the Gardens.
The alleged Russian spy Anna Chapman and her husband lived in Gibson Gardens for a period around 2002. [4]
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, its principal district. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly regarded as being part of east London that spans some of the traditional East End of London with the northwest belonging to north London. Its population is estimated to be 281,120.
Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is five miles northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington, the ancient parish.
Islington is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy High Street, Upper Street, Essex Road, and Southgate Road to the east.
New Kent Road is a 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) road in the London Borough of Southwark. The road was created in 1751 when the Turnpike Trust upgraded a local footpath. This was done as part of the general road improvements associated with the creation of Westminster Bridge; in effect it was possible to travel from the West End/ Westminster to the south-east without having to go via the Borough of Southwark but could now cross St George's Fields to the junction of Newington Causeway and Newington Butts which is where New Kent Road starts at Elephant & Castle. The route runs eastward for a few hundred yards to the junction of Great Dover Street and Tower Bridge Road, known as Bricklayers Arms, where it joins the original route to the south-east Old Kent Road.
Liverpool Road is a street in Islington, North London. It covers a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) between Islington High Street and Holloway Road, running roughly parallel to Upper Street through the area of Barnsbury. It contains several attractive terraces of Georgian houses and Victorian villas, many of which are listed buildings. There are a number of pubs, small businesses and restaurants along its route, as well as some secluded garden squares. The vast majority of the street is residential, with a bustling shopping and business area at the southern, Angel, end.
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.
Manor House is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. Located in North London, it lies immediately east of Finsbury Park, west of Stamford Hill and south of Harringay.
Abney Park is in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a 13-hectare (32-acre) park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Abney, the wife of Sir Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor of London in 1700 and one of the first directors of the Bank of England and associated with Isaac Watts, who laid out an arboretum. In the early 18th century it was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions: her own manor house and Fleetwood House. Both fronted onto Church Street in what was then a quiet mainly Nonconformist (non-Anglican) village. In 1840, the grounds were turned into Abney Park Cemetery, where 200,000 people were buried. Since 1978, the grounds have served as a cemetery open only to burials in a few remaining paid-up plots; an enclosed woodland park and events venue open to the public managed by the London Borough of Hackney, and since 1993, as a Local Nature Reserve, too.
Stoke Newington Common is an open space in the London Borough of Hackney. It lies between Brooke Road to the south and Northwold Road to the north, straddling a railway line and the busy Rectory Road. The common is 2.15 hectares in area.
Stoke Newington was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex. It was both a civil parish, used for administrative purposes, and an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England.
Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1792, replacing the nearby former 16th-century parish church dedicated to St Augustine. The original tower of that church was retained to hold the bells until the new church could be strengthened; the bells were finally removed to the new St John's in 1854. See details of other, more modern, churches within the original parish boundaries below.
Stoke Newington Church Street is a road in north London of the borough of Hackney. The road links Green Lanes (A105) in the west to Stoke Newington High Street, in the east. Stoke Newington is one of the villages swallowed by the growth of London in the 19th century, and Church Street retains some of this neighbourhood feel, with many restaurants, pubs, and independent (non-chain) shops.
The Pullens Buildings, also known as the Pullens Estate, are some of the last Victorian tenement buildings surviving in London, England. In the Walworth, Newington area, they are near Elephant and Castle and Kennington Underground stations. Located in Amelia Street, Crampton Street, Iliffe Street, Penton Place and Peacock Street, they are protected by Conservation Area status granted by Southwark Council.
Clapton Square is the second largest garden square in the London Borough of Hackney, located in Lower Clapton, Clapton. It is lined by buildings on three sides. Its Conservation Area designated in 1969 – extended in 1991 and 2000 – takes in a larger green space separated by a stretch of open road: St John's Gardens. Those gardens have the tallest and largest building visible from all parts of the square's garden, the Church of St John-at-Hackney, rebuilt in 1792-97 which contains older monuments. Two sides of the square are lined with tall, partly stone-dressed, classical, Georgian terraced houses.
The Dalston Synagogue was an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Poet's Road, Canonbury, in the Borough of Islington, North London, England, in the United Kingdom. After formation in 1874, the congregation worshiped in the Poet's Road synagogue from 1885 until its closure in 1967. The congregation worshiped in the Ashkenazi rite.
In London, the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes (MAIDIC) was a Victorian-era, philanthropically-motivated model dwellings company. The association, established in 1841, was fore-runner of the modern housing association which sought to provide affordable housing for the working classes on a privately run basis, with a financial return for investors. Although not the first society to build such homes, the Association was the first to be founded expressly for this purpose. As such it was one of the earliest adopters of the principal of the five per cent philanthropy model, outlined in the Company's resolution: "that an association be formed for the purpose of providing the labouring man with an increase of the comforts and conveniences of life, with full return to the capitalist."
The Gravel Pit Chapel was established in 1715–1716 in Hackney, then just outside London, for a Nonconformist congregation, which by the early 19th century began to identify itself as Unitarian. In 1809 the congregation moved to the New Gravel Pit Chapel nearby, while its old premises were taken over by Congregationalists. The New Gravel Pit Chapel was closed and demolished in1969.
Thomas Field Gibson FGS was a Unitarian silk manufacturer and philanthropist. He supported several novel initiatives to enhance British manufacturing quality and international trade while improving life for working people during the Industrial Revolution – particularly in Spitalfields where his business was centred. He also made important contributions to geology.
Arundel Square is a garden square in Barnsbury, North London. It is bounded on three sides by terraces of Victorian houses, and on the fourth with modern flats. The central public gardens contain mature trees, attractive flower beds and playground equipment.