The Story of South Villa, Albion Road

The redevolopment of a small site

 

1868 Ordnance Survey of South Villa, with Stoke Newington Vestry shaded and

South Hornsey Vestry left in white.

KEITH PLEASE COLOUR IN SOUTH VILLA AND THE SHOOL.

At this period some fields in Stoke Newington were administered by Hornsey. They had been given to Hornsey decades before and would continue to be administered as a tiny authority there until 1900, when there was a general tidying up of borough boundaries in London.

South Villa was a large house in a generous garden, built in the 1840s. It faced Albion Road and backed onto Church Path. The northern edge of the garden followed the old hedgerow shape and that shape has persisted into the 21st. Century. The garden of No.108 Albion Road, immediately to the north, swept down to fill the hedgerow shape.

Church Path had been the bridle path taking the Newington Green faithful to Church for centuries. About 1870 an Iron School Building was erected at the Church Path end of South Villa garden.

By 1868 South Hornsey had been filled with houses, but development was only starting in the Stoke Newington area to the west. Clearly, Hornsey Removed was quicker off the mark in the building race than Stoke Newington.

In 1893 South Villa was demolished and the site was redeveloped. The old hedgerow shape dictated how many houses could be built on the site. The developer could have built four on the frontage but he managed to squeeze in five by building high.

The front garden of No.106d is wider at the front than the back because of the curve in the old hedge boundary. Most of the houses numbered 106a-d are the same floor area but the front garden of No 106d splays wider to follow the old field hedge line and it has no Back Addition as the hedgeline shape did not leave enough room for one.

 


 

1868 Ordnance Survey of South Villa

The 1894 Ordnance Survey Map

In 1893 the surveyors were working their way along Albion Road, preparing the next Ordnance Survey map. They compared what they found with the previous Ordnance Survey of 1868 and redrew accordingly. When they came to No. 106 they found a building site.

South View had been demolished and five houses were being built along Albion Road. The garden had not yet been divided into five separate ones and the School Room was still standing. No doubt the builder was using it as an office and storing materials there.

This shows the new Albion Road houses, with the School Room still standing.

The 1914 Ordnance Survey of South Villa

This later map shows the five Church Path houses which were built too late for the 1894 one. Thus the builder crowded ten houses on the site but only by reducing the floor area of one.The 1914 map appears to be slighty inacurate as 106d did not have a back addition.

1935 Ordnance Survey of South Villa

1952 Ordnance Survey of South Villa

No. 121 was burnt down and has recently been demolished. Nos. 117-113 have been demolished and two net houses built on the site.

For a detailed history of the South Villa Site History CLICK IN THIS LINK.