Comments on: The Haggerston Nobody Knows

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 17:42:30 +0000

A world lost for ever. Thank goodness for the amazing archive of photographs, so thank you for sharing.

By: molly ayton

molly ayton — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:01:58 +0000

Beautiful

By: Gillian Tindall

Gillian Tindall — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 08:52:19 +0000

The awful destruction of good, liveable townscape and of people’s homes was very nearly replicated in the 1960s and early ’70s in Kentish Town – but fortunately, by that date, there were just enough owner-occupiers living in the district to fight back against the wholesale destruction of habitat and to make Camden planners back down on quite a bit of their `comprehensive redevelopment plan’. Well-informed squatters also helped save some key terraces. If only the Haggerston area could have been helped in this way –

By: Colin Cohen

Colin Cohen — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 17:35:49 +0000

So many buildings that could doubtless have been saved ….
You mention ‘Elegant dark-painted sashes’, but to my mind it is dark, perhaps a very dark green, glazing bars that contribute to the general griminess of the street scene. Now the default is white, which I think brings life to a façade, but it’s my impression that white only became a thing after WWII. I wonder if there was a big price differential between light and dark. It’s not as if there was a shortage of titanium dioxide from Cornwall

By: Gilbert O’Brien

Gilbert O’Brien — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 09:32:33 +0000

Tragic. And nothing has changed, it continues today, an endless repetition of greed and destruction. Breaks yer ‘art.

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 01:59:54 +0000

So sad to see these house and many others of this type in all parts of the Country demolished during this period. The house I live in was built in 1911, and though many of the original features are gone those that remain and the house itself testify to how very well built it was (the original slate roof for example has only recently become in need of significant attention) and when you think of some of the rubbish that went up to replace houses like the ones shown, in many cases already in dire need of rebuilding or massive repair it really was a terrible mistake in most cases, and that is before you get on to the awful effect it had on communities that were broken up as others have also mentioned. A great shame.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 00:08:19 +0000

This is really so sad.

Our ever-burgeoning population seems to produce ever-burgeoning cities, in which single family homes no longer are practical, unless we all want to commute for hours and hours every day, or somehow miraculously build very local economies. We’ve kind of doomed ourselves to big, multi-story apartment buildings. (Plus, of course, we no longer have quaintly priced homes for 10,000 pounds…) Oh, modern life. 🙁

By: Christine Maiocco

Christine Maiocco — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 22:02:47 +0000

I love that you’ve provided an inside photo – the sitting room. I always imagine what the interior of these wonderful places looks like and now I have a picture to use as a springboard! Thank you for all your lovely posts!

By: Anthony Quinn

Anthony Quinn — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:09:16 +0000

Avril Towell, I feel your pain. This is a heartbreaking story, both in the loss of beautiful roads and buildings but in the senseless breaking up of whole communities. The Haggerston nobody knows, and now never will know. RIP.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 16:45:36 +0000

Cast-iron railings: what a varied fate befell them.
In my home district (Stoke Newington, Bayston Road) they were harvested in 1940 for scrap no matter who was the owner, no matter what role they served. Here in Haggerston, not very far away, they were evidently conserved.
How and why, one wonders?