Decorating Albion Square

Albion Square is a handsome early-Victorian garden square on the southern edge of Islington, close to the Hackney Road border in De Beauvoir Town. The square is laid out around a central private garden and enclosed by well-preserved two- and three-storey brick terraces with Italianate and classical stucco detailing, built around the 1840s. Its slightly off-the-beaten-track position has helped preserve much of the original streetscape, making it one of the more architecturally coherent early-Victorian squares in north-east London.

The early-Victorian stock brick and stucco terraces of Albion Square require lime-compatible exterior paint systems to maintain the breathability of original masonry. The square's communal garden setting means scaffolding access arrangements must be agreed with the square's management, and there is strong community expectation that external decoration colours remain consistent with the established period palette of the conservation area.