Coleridge Buildings, Shepherd's Hill

Coleridge buildings was built on a piece of waste ground at the junction of Shepherd's Hill and Archway Road. Constructed by the Highgate Dwellings Improvement Company (HDIC), the building opened in May 1867 providing 47 two and three room apartments for "the artisans and labourers of Highgate". The HDIC had been established in 1864 to repair or build houses for letting to the working class as part of an initiative to improve the Crown of Highgate Hill.

From soon after the block was finished, it came regularly regularly under the scrutiny of Hornsey's Medical and Sanitary Inspectors. Sink traps, joints of the soil pipes and closets and the connections to the sewers were all defective.

The flats were demolished by a flying bomb in 1944 and in 1950 were replaced by Goldsmith Court. Managed by the Hornsey Housing Trust, the block provides 16 dwellings for older residents.

Goldsmith Court 2015 (Photo: Clive Carter published on Harringay Online)