The Caledonian Estate is a Grade II listed, early Edwardian estate towards the northern end of the Caledonian Road in Islington,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It is situated next to

Pentonville Prison HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...

. The Estate was built on the site of the classical Caledonian Asylum from which the Road took its name.

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

describes the building as having been constructed between 1900 and 1907, though

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

describes it as having been built between 1904 and 1906. A pamphlet produced by the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

notes that, though the Council had accepted an offer from the Asylum for the land by January 1901, construction could not begin until December 1904 as the trustees of the school needed time to erect new buildings elsewhere. The architect was James Greenwood Stephenson (1872–1950); and was designed during his time in the Housing of the Working Classes Branch of the

Architect's Department. Susan Beattie states that it is one of the two "most successful" flatted estates in the first decade of the twentieth century (along with Stephenson's Chadworth Buildings in Lever Street).

Architect

Stephenson had been a student at the South Kensington Schools, before working as an improver and then a draughtsman under Sir Arthur Blomfield from 1892 to 1893. He joined the LCC the following year. Stephenson became an associate of the

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

in 1896, sponsored by Blomfield (as well as the Scottish architect, John Slater). At this time (that is, between its formation in 1893 and the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

), the work of the 'Housing of the Working Classes' branch of the LCC's Architecture Department has been said to have "the right to be counted among the highest achievements of the Arts and Crafts movement in English Architecture". Some propose William Riley, the chief architect of the LCC, as the original architect of the Estate, and 'Rob' Robertson (1866–1939) declared on his application to the RIBA that he had "taken a leading part in designing all the large housing schemes for the LCC – for example ��Caledonian Estate".

Style

The Estate consists of five blocks built in a mixture of

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and Arts and Crafts styles. The five blocks, Carrick House, Irvine House, Burns House, Scott House and Wallace House, are named for Scottish locations and writers (including

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

Sir William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...

and

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

). Two blocks, Carrick and Irvine, are parallel to the road (these blocks were originally called Bruce and Knox) and the remaining three, Scott, Burns and Wallace, are organised around a large courtyard. The entrance arch is described in

as "bold". Pevsner further describes the estate thus: "The access to the flats from iron balconies is typical of this phase. Serious five-story blocks in red brick and glazed terracotta, enlivened with Arts and Crafts details, e.g. the parapet curving up over the octagonal end bays and the pointed relieving arches over the windows filled with herringbone brick, as favoured at the same time by Holden at the Belgrave Hospital. Playful but vandal-proof steel gates throughout by Hutchinson and Partners." Housing for the Working Classes-109

The block forming the quadrangle is built on the open access balcony plan (somewhat unpopular at the time). The buildings themselves are, as Susan Beattie states, "the basis for a masterly exercise in Arts and Crafts design". She states: "the grid of horizontal and verticals established in the balconies and living-room bays is reinforced in the ground floor arcades and massive buttressed entrance blocks. Its severe geometry serves to heighten each contrast of solid with void and light with shade and to sharpen the effect of each modest flourish of decoration in the iron and brickwork" She goes on to note that the specially designed garden gates and balcony railings "play an important part in creating a sense of place" and are "among the finest examples of architectural ironwork to have been produced in London at this period". The buildings were granted Grade II Listed status on 30 September 1994. * * * * *

References

{{coord, 51, 32, 45.5, N, 0, 07, 03.6, W, display=title Housing estates in the London Borough of Islington Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington Grade II listed residential buildings Arts and Crafts architecture in England