Hackney Architecture Walking Tour - Saturday 9 November 2024 1pm
Regular price £19.50Join 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.
Providing a fun way for enthusiastic urbanists to explore the city this walking tour is part of a new series responding to the core themes of the Open House festival and wider Open City programme.
Key information
Meet: Outside Homerton Overground Station London E9 5SE.
Duration: 2.5 hours
Distance: 5km approx
Tour end: Haggerston School Weymouth Terrace, London E2 8LS near to Hoxton Overground Station.
You can also purchase a Pocket London printed version of this Hackney tour on the shop page
Meet the tour guide...
Lachlan Anderson-Frank is a architecture-trained town planner (RTPI Associate) working on strategic housing and planning analysis in local government. Anderson-Frank has contributed as an author for Domus, Icon, Open City, the MIT Journal of Urban Planning, and Archdaily. He has also appeared as a public speaker for Urban Design London, the Royal Town Planning Institute, 20th Century Society, Urban Design Group, and has featured on design panels for Hackney Council and the Architectural Association. He joined the Open City tours team in June 2021.
Tickets are non-refundable and tours go ahead rain or shine.
* Please check for any planned transport engineering works, planned strike action or large scale events that may affect your journey before making your ticket purchase *
If you find you can no longer make the tour for any reason we are unable to transfer you to another date, but please feel free to pass your booked place onto a friend to go and enjoy the tour in your place.
In the event your tour date is cancelled you will be issued with a credit note (with no expiry date) that you can use to
- book onto a rescheduled date
- book onto any other tour from our programme
or you can request a refund.
All ticket purchases are in support of the work of our organisation including our pioneering education programmes. We really appreciate your support!
Get in touch with Adrianna at tours@open-city.org.uk with any queries.
Please select solidarity pricing to help Open City offer the concessionary tickets rate for student and jobseekers.
Our concession pricing (£9.50 for walking tours / £19.50 for boat tours) is available for students and jobseekers only.
If you find you can no longer make the tour for Covid or any reason we are unable to transfer you to another date, but please feel free to pass your booked place onto a friend to go in your place.
In the event your tour date is cancelled due to Covid or any other reason you will be provided with the opportunity to book onto a rescheduled date, book onto another tour, provided with a credit note (with no expiry date) or you can request a refund.
All ticket purchases are in support of the work of our organisation including our pioneering education programmes. We really appreciate your support!
Get in touch with Adrianna at tours@open-city.org.uk with any queries.
Gift Aid is an income tax relief designed to benefit charities. If you're a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid increases the value of your charity donations by 25% because as a charity we can reclaim the basic rate of tax on your gift at no extra cost to you.