Nos. 2 and 4, Kingsland Road

III.—Nos. 2 and 4 KINGSLAND ROAD.

Ground landlords.

The St. Leonard Shoreditch Parish Charity Trustees.

General description and history.

On 7th September, 1602, Anne Mayowe sold (fn. 1) to William Muschamp, together with other premises, "all that messuage or tenement . . . . called the Smythes house, now divided into five tenementes or dwellinghouses, scituate in Holywell Street," and in 1656 Edmund and William Muschamp sold the premises, then divided into six tenements, to the parish of Shoreditch. (fn. 2)

In 1721–2 the property consisted of ten tenements, and in that year was leased for 500 years to the trustees of the parochial schools, who pulled down the existing buildings, and erected a schoolhouse on a part of the site. In 1806 (fn. 3) a portion of the site was acquired for the widening of Kingsland Road. The school buildings were accordingly taken down and new schools (No. 4) and a dwellinghouse (No. 2) erected on the site remaining. (fn. 4) The schools were discontinued as the result of a charity scheme approved in 1884.

According to a print by Schnebbelie, dated 1810 (Plate 44), the exterior of the premises, with the exception of minor details, was then very similar to the front as it is to-day. The buildings consist of three-storey stock-brick premises, with attic and basement. The statue, shown in the print of 1810 has been taken away, and the brick niche which contained it has been converted into a two-light window. The shopfront of No. 2 has been removed and the exterior of the ground-storey cemented over and adapted for residential purposes.

Condition of the premises.

Good.

The Council's collection contains:

(fn. 5) Entrance to London at Shoreditch Church. Drawn by Schnebbelie, engraved by Hay, in Crace Collection, British Museum (photograph).