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{{Short description|Residential building in London, England}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{Authority control|state=autocollapse}}

factoids

}}John Spencer Square is a neo-Georgian residential garden square in the heart of the Canonbury conservation area in Islington, London.WEB, London Gardens Trust: John Spencer Square,weblink live, 7 October 2021, 7 October 2021,weblink It is named after Sir John Spencer, a wealthy city merchant and Lord Mayor of London in 1594, who lived in nearby Canonbury HouseWEB, Islington Rapunzel,weblink live, 7 October 2021, 7 October 2021,weblink as his fashionable country retreat.BOOK, Cherry & Pevsner, Bridget & Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: London Volume 4: North, Yale University Press, 1998, 9780300096538,

History

The neo-Georgian open quadrangle apartment blocks, bordered by Compton Road, St. Pauls Road, Prior Bolton Street and St Mary's Grove,WEB, John Spencer Square,weblink live, 7 October 2021, 7 October 2021,weblink were built on land sold in 1954 by the Earl of Northampton to property companies Western Ground RentsWEB, Parliament Hansard,weblink live, 5 October 2021, 5 October 2021,weblink and Oriel Property trust.BOOK, Mobilising Housing Histories: Learning from London's Past for a Sustainable Future, 9781000702347,weblink live, Guillery, Peter, Kroll, David, 25 July 2019, Routledge, 16 December 2021, 10 February 2023,weblink It was designed by William Floyd Nash in a neo-Georgian style reflecting the 18th century architecture of Canonbury.In the early 1950s, most of the Victorian villas on the site were bomb-damaged or dilapidated and planning permission for a development was granted in 1963 by Islington Borough Council.NEWS, Architects Guide Londons Fascinating Unknown Buildings, The Telegraph, 9 February 2021,weblink live, 7 October 2021, 7 October 2021,weblink Cooke, Emma, The development, comprising 80 apartments of one to three bedrooms, was built by Canonbury Construction Co. in 1963-4.BOOK, T F T, Baker, C R, Elrington, Christopher Elrington,weblink A History of the County of Middlesex, A P, Baggs, Diane K, Bolton, Patricia E C, Croot, Islington: Manors, 8, Islington and Stoke Newington parishes, Victoria County Histories, London, 1985, 51–57, British History Online, 5 October 2021, 3 September 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140903112428weblink">weblink live, BOOK, Forshaw, Alec, 20th Century Buildings in Islington, 2001, 9780954149000, The Islington Society, London, The first residents, some still living at the square, purchased their off-plan flats for under £5,000 in 1964, before building was completed and took up residence in April 1965.BOOK, Cosh, Mary, The Squares of Islington, 2, Islington Parish, Islington Archaeology & History Society, 1993, 0950753262, London, Mary Cosh, The John Spencer Square Management Company acquired the freehold in 1985 and still manage the estate.WEB, John Spencer Square Management Company Limited,weblink UK Government Companies House,

Notable residents

• Barbara Castle, Former First Secretary of State and Labour politician
• David Starkey, English constitutional historian
• George Brown, Former Foreign Secretary under Harold Wilson
• Tony Hadley, English pop singer
• Arthur Mullard, British actor

References

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