Discover the extraordinary history of Hackney’s civic
architecture
Photo: Sherard House, Frampton Park Estate by Paul the Stephen McKay, from Geograph licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Originally taken 20 November 2015.
Join Open City for a walking tour exploring Hackney most ambitious and enigmatic public architecture
This insightful walking tour of Hackney — led by architecture-trained town planner Lachlan Anderson-Frank — showcases the ambitious municipal projects which sought to transform the quality of life for people living in one of London’s most deprived boroughs.
The modern London Borough of Hackney covers a mix of leafy North London’s suburbs and the formerly gritty streets of the historic East End. Many of the area’s grandest squares were condemned as slums in the mid-20th century and cleared away – sometimes less than one hundred years after they were first built.
Out of decades of post-industrial decline – which by the early noughties had left Hackney as one of the country’s poorest neighbourhoods – grew a passionate commitment to ambitious municipalism, community activism and anti-racism which can be seen in local architecture today.
Highlights of the tour include the cloistered Nisbet House – opened by King George VI in 1938 – the Le Corbusier-inspired 1959 Gascoyne Estate, the Art Deco Hackney Town Hall, the striking Ada Street Workshops and Ernő Goldfinger’s iconic Haggerston School for Girls.
Representing a series of prominent landmarks amid the rapidly changing townscape of east London, these unique locations will be brought to life to reveal the fascinating details behind their construction during a moment of unparalleled optimism and idealism for the future.
Key information
Meet: Outside Homerton Overground Station E9 5SE
Ends: Haggerston School Weymouth Terrace, London E2 8LS near to Hoxton Overground Station
Duration: 2.5 hrs approx
Distance: 5km approx
Cost: £19.50 / £17.50 / £13.50 / £9.50
Tickets are non refundable and our tours go ahead rain or shine…
We aim to be inclusive and accessible where possible, please contact Adrianna at tours@open-city.org.uk to discuss your needs, reduced ticket prices and if you require a free carer ticket or have any additional queries.
This tour is published as a Pocket London. You can purchase the printed guide from the Open City Shop as part of the Pocket London: The Golden Era of Social Housing pack.
Meet the tour guide…
Lachlan Anderson-Frank is a architecturally-trained and chartered town planner working at the Town and Country Planning Association on new towns and garden communities. Anderson-Frank has contributed as an author for Domus, Icon, Open City, the MIT Journal of Urban Planning, and Archdaily and appeared as a speaker for the Royal Town Planning Institute, 20th Century Society, Urban Design Group and Urban Design Learning.
He joined the Open City tours team in June 2021.
Open City's year-round tours programme is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.