Albert Street,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

NW1, is a street in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

, England, near Camden Town station. It includes several listed Grade II listed 19th-century buildings. Some of the houses have had notable former residents and two of them have blue plaques. Although the street is mainly residential, it also includes some offices and a pub.

Location

The street leads, at its north-west end, to

Parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled p ...

(the A2401 road) and, at the south-east end, to Mornington Place.

Arlington Road ''Arlington Road'' is a 1999 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Mark Pellington and starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspect ...

runs parallel to the east. The nearest stations are

and

Mornington Crescent Mornington Crescent is a terraced street in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden, Camden, London, England. It was built in the 1820s, on a greenfield site just to the north of central London. Many of the houses were subdivided into flats dur ...

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

Listed buildings and notable residents

Even-numbered houses

The artist

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (29 April 1931 – 11 November 2024) was a German-born British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he became a naturalised British subject in 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of Lo ...

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 The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...

. The writer, journalist and Labour MP

Dick Leonard Richard Lawrence Leonard (12 December 1930 – 24 June 2021) was a British writer, journalist and Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford from 1970 to 1974. He was a pro-European social democrat and had been a ...

(1930–2021), his wife Irène Heidelberger-Leonard, Professor of German Literature, their son Mark Leonard (born 1974),

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and author, and their daughter Miriam Leonard (born 1976), Professor of Greek Literature, have all lived at No. 18. Dick Leonard died there in 2021. No. 20, known as Tudor Lodge, which has been listed Grade II by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

, was built in the 1840s as a house and studios for the artist

Charles Lucy Charles Lucy (1814 – 18 May 1873) was a British historical painter active during the Victorian era. Born in Hereford, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and Royal Academy of Arts. He won multiple prizes in art competitions held during the ...

(1814–1873). The poet and novelist

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carrol ...

(1824–1905), who lived there from 1860 to 1863, described the house in his 1871 novel ''The Vicar's Daughter''. It now has a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

, commemorating MacDonald, that was erected by

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

in 2005. The Liverpool-born writer, theatre critic and artist

Beryl Bainbridge Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. She won the Whitbread Awards priz ...

(1932−2010) lived at No. 42 for 45 years. In 1967 she painted ''Napoleon Dancing at 42 Albert St, Camden Town, to the Strains of the Gramophone''.

John Desmond Bernal John Desmond Bernal (; 10 May 1901 – 15 September 1971) was an Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology. He published extensively on the history of science. In addition, Bernal wrote popular boo ...

(1901–1971), the Irish scientist who pioneered the use of

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

, lived and died at No. 44. In 2001

placed a blue plaque there to commemorate him. The writer and broadcaster

Robert Elms Robert Frederick Elms is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for '' The Face'' magazine in the 1980s, and is known for his long-running radio show on BBC Radio London and his 2006 book, ''The Way We Wore''. Early life and educ ...

(born 1959) lived at No. 74 until 2021.

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...

, founder and songwriter of

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentSupernova Heights. He wrote "

Champagne Supernova "Champagne Supernova" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It is the closing track on the band's second studio album, ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' (1995), and was released as the sixth and final single from ...

" and "'

Wonderwall "Wonderwall" is a song by English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 30 October 1995 as the fourth single from the band's second studio album ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?''. Described by lead guitarist and chief songwrite ...

" in the flat and has referred to receiving a phone call from his manager informing him that he had become a millionaire whilst living there.

Odd-numbered houses

A terrace of 27 houses (Nos. 45 to 97) was built in 1845 and is Grade II listed. The

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

-born architect

William Henry Crossland William Henry Crossland (Yorkshire, 1835 – London, 14 November 1908), known professionally as W.H. Crossland, was a 19th-century English architect and a pupil of George Gilbert Scott. His architectural works included the design of three buildin ...

(1835–1908), who designed

Rochdale Town Hall Rochdale Town Hall is a Victorian era, Victorian-era City and town halls, municipal building in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It is "widely recognised as being one of the finest municipal buildings in the country",. and is recorded in ...

Holloway Sanatorium Holloway Sanatorium was an institution for the treatment of those suffering temporary mental illness, situated on of aesthetically landscaped grounds near Virginia Water in Surrey, England, about south-west of Charing Cross. Its largest buildin ...

and

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departmen ...

, died at No. 57 on 14 November 1908. The artists

Victor Willing Victor Arthur James Willing (15 January 1928 – 1 June 1988) was a British painter, noted for his original nude studies. He was a friend and colleague of many notable artists, including Elisabeth Frink, Michael Andrews and Francis Bacon. He ...

and

Paula Rego Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego (: 26 January 1935 – 8 June 2022) was a Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based o ...

lived at No. 87 during the 1960s. Sir Tim Lankester, former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and the first economic private secretary to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

lived at 103. A terrace of nine houses (Nos. 123 to 139) was built in about 1845 and is Grade II listed. Nos. 129 to 131 are now called Raymond Burton House, which was the location of the

Jewish Museum London The Jewish Museum London was a museum of British Jewish life, history and identity. The museum was situated in Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, north London. It was a place for people of all faiths to explore Jewish history, culture, ...

from 1995 to 2023, when it closed.

Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles (27 September 190714 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th century. He was ...

, Baron Miles, actor and founder of the

Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new th ...

lived at No. 139 during the 1950s. No. 141, on the corner of Albert Street and Parkway, is a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, The Spread Eagle. It is Grade II listed.. The Spread Eagle featured extensively in the early life of

Bruce Robinson Bruce Robinson (born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote and directed '' Withnail and I'' (1987), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the late 1960s, which drew on his experiences as ...

, the creator of

Withnail and I ''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gra ...

. Robinson used to go to the Spread Eagle to cash benefits cheques.

Other buildings

At the other end of the street, a Grade II-listed house, No. 38 Delancey Street, has an entrance on Albert Street.

Former mosque

London's first mosque was opened in 1895 at a house in Albert Street.

Gallery

File:GEORGE MACDONALD 1824-1905 Story Teller lived here 1860-1863.jpg,

Blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

at No. 20, commemorating

File:John-Desmond-Bernal-1901-1971.jpg, Blue plaque at No. 44, commemorating

J. D. Bernal John Desmond Bernal (; 10 May 1901 – 15 September 1971) was an Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology. He published extensively on the history of science. In addition, Bernal wrote popular boo ...

File:Jewish Museum London.jpg, Exterior of

at Nos. 129−131 File:Spread Eagle, Camden Town, NW1 (7788511956).jpg, The Spread Eagle pub at No. 141, on the corner of Albert Street and Parkway

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert Street Camden Town Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Former mosques in the United Kingdom Streets in the London Borough of Camden