EAW034999 ENGLAND (1951). A cityscape over Pentonville, Islington, from the south-west, 1951. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing.

Mission Hall, formerly Thornhill Bridge Place (canalside road).

Essex Road Library, Essex Road, N1

Carlton (ABC) Cinema, Essex Road, N1 Designed by English architect George Coles in 1930 and now a Grade II listed building, the Carlton is Islington's answer to the Coles' other notable landmarks: the Troxy in Stepney Green, and several other Odeon cinemas across the UK. Typical of Coles' style, the façade of the building is in the form of an Egyptian 'pylon' temple and is decorated with Egyptian iconography including lotus flowers and buds. It is faced with brightly-coloured ceramic tiles. Inside, the is building decorated with Empire style fittings, with more Egyptian-style touches in the auditorium. It was equipped with plush balcony seating and a cafe for patrons, and once housed a large organ to be played during silent movie performances. At the time of its opening, the cinema was owned by C&R Theatres, but it was later taken over by ABC Cinemas until its closure in 1972. After this is operated as a Mecca bingo hall, which ran right up until 2007.

Chapel Street (Market), N1

St James' Church, Prebend Street, N1

Rotherfield Primary & Junior School, Rotherfield Street, N1 - opened in 1898

Union Chapel, Upper Street, N1

St Stephen's Church, Canonbury Road, N1

St Matthew's Church, Essex Road, N1 - Demolished in 1966

Morton Road, N1

Elizabeth Avenue, N1 (Formerly Oxford Street)

Bentham Court, N1 - Built in 1949

St Peter's Church, St Peter's Street, N1

Victoria Cinematograph Theatre, New North Road, N1 - 1912 to 1957 The building that sits on the corner of New North Road and Ecclesbourne Road has always looked like something of a box, both today when it is an apartment block and even when it was the Victoria Cinematograph Theatre, which stood on the same site until 2001/2002 when it was demolished. The Victoria Cinematograph Theatre was another cinema built by the architectural firm Lovegrove & Papworth, however perhaps not one of their most attractive. Back in the day before the Victoria had ‘talkies’ (1929) the cinema had a live orchestra to accompany the silent film screenings; it is easy to imagine that this must have been quite a boisterous affair, given that ‘Cloggy (John Clogg), the Victoria’s pianist, was a bit of a comedian; sometimes he’d play a sweet melody during a fight scene, and, when the hero and heroine finally embraced, he’d belt out a stirring [sic] march. The audience would demonstrate their appreciation with a show of orange peel and peanut shells!‘* Mr Katz, the cinema manager in 1920s, went to great length to ensure that going to the pictures at the Victoria something of a special event, for example not content to have just instrumental music play with the films, he employed live vocalists to accompany the film screening. At other times there would be competitions where audience members might find themselves lucky enough to be the spot-prize winner – the prize a pair of kippers! Many cinemas in the early days of film production faced the danger of fire due to sparks – from the often-cranky projectors – coming in contact with the highly flammable cellulose nitrate film stock that was used at the time. The Victoria was no exception to these types of fires, thankfully though most were quite small; however information contained in the London County Council (LCC) reports state ‘a fire of more than ordinary interest’ did take place at around 11pm the 27th November 1916. The fire report indicates that the 14 year old assistant projectionist who was on duty alone in the projection box at the time removed a lose bit of carbon from the projector and dipped it in water to cool it down; carbon arc illumination was the norm at this stage and removing bits of lose carbon was all part of the job of film projection. Unfortunately, though, the boy had not cooled the carbon enough so when it was placed on the bench the heat from it ignited some film cuttings that were sitting close by. Quickly trying to put out the burning strips of film the boy brushed them off the bench, but what bad luck when they fell into a box with several spools of film that also quickly ignited making matters far worse. By now the senior projectionist had returned but he neither was able to put the fire out, the cinema was evacuated and we can only presume the fire brigade attended and put the fire out but not before an explosion took place that blew out the windows in the projection booth with such force that a piece of wired glass broke a window on the opposite side of New North Road! Throughout the 45 years of its life the Victoria survived as an independent cinema, first under the direction of the Essex Road Cinemas Ltd, then Clissold Cinemas and finally by the time it closed in 1958 Seco Cineshows Ltd. This was quite some achievement really given that it was a rather plain building surrounded by a number of luxurious ‘picture-palaces’ within walking distance, including the lavish Carlton Cinema on Essex Road.

A Probyn & Co, Essex Road, N1 - Bottlers for various breweries

Percy Circus, WC1

Islington Green, junction of Upper Street & Essex Road, N1

St. Marys Church, Upper Street, N1

Royal Agricultural Hall, Liverpool Road, N1

Angel Junction, N1 / EC1

Killick Street, N1

Scala Cinema (formerly: Kings Cross Cinema / Gaumont / Odeon) Junction of: Pentonville Road & Caledonian Road, WC1

St. James Church, Pentonville Road & Rodney Street, N1

Claremont Square, Pentonville Road & Amwell Street, EC1 (covered Reservoir)

Half Moon Crescent, N1

Berners House, Barnsbury Estate, N1

Vittoria Place School, N1

Risinghill School / Starcross School, Risinghill Street, N1 (construction)

Prefabs, Risinghill Street, N1

St. Silas Church, Penton Street & Risinghill Street, N1

Kings Cross Road, WC1

Pentonville Road, WC1

Penton Rise, WC1

Bevin Court, Cruikshank Street, WC1 (Construction)

Sir Philip Magnus School, Penton Rise, WC1

Priory Green Estate, N1

Priory Green Estate, N1