Architect	Keith Davies Young
Date Built	1903
Location	Pancras Road
Description
The foundation stone of Goldington Buildings was laid in October of 1902 by Edmund Barnes, Mayor of St Pancras Borough Council.  The stone appears to indicate that the architect was Keith Davies Young. The plaque above the entrance indicates that it was completed in 1903.  The municipaldreams.wordpress.com site explains that, "... The Goldington Buildings were built between 1902 and 1904.  Externally, the building had – and retains – a certain grandeur with its red- and yellow-stock brick, corner quoins, terra-cotta detailing, decorative gables and mansard roof.  The opening programme boasted of its ‘large courtyard’ and ‘covered playing place for children’. Internally, it was far better accommodation than that which it replaced but it was basic – comprising 56 dwellings, mostly three-room tenements containing WCs, sculleries and coppers for hot water but no baths. " The foundation stone indicates that one of the people present at the laying was Councillor Edward Mason Close, whose role was "Chairman of the Housing for the Working Class Sub Committee".  However as the municipaldreams website explains Goldington Buildings, "... rents were too high for most of the displaced slum-dwellers.  Cheaper two-room flats let more readily but the three-room (at between 9s 6d and 11s 6d a week) were affordable only to the better-off.  Indeed one of the earliest residents, William Neave, was a commercial traveller and his daughter a short-hand typist…until she became better known (and renamed) as Ethel le Neve, Dr Crippen’s mistress.  Since then Goldington Court (also renamed) has been modernised several times over to suit higher standards and changing times.  Most of the flats, but not all, had baths by 1935.  A major 1964 refurbishment replaced that now ‘dreary asphalt courtyard’ with a garden and increased the number of one-bed flats. Now managed by Origin Housing, the most recent (£3.9m) renovation in 2011 increased the number of larger family-size flats: 21 of the 30 current flats are three-bedroom."

Close Window