56A, Highbury Grove

ISLINGTON

TQ3285SW HIGHBURY GROVE 635-1/39/457 (East side) 27/07/88 No.56A

II

Balloon-making workshop, now a garage. Built c.1900 for the Spencer brothers. Brick set in English bond, roof of corrugated steel. One storey, open plan. Gabled east and west ends; on the south side six windows (two blocked) and two doors (both blocked), all with replacement lintels; east end has central flat-arched entrance with gauged brick head and two flanking flat-arched windows with gauged brick heads; north side has six windows, three with cambered-arched heads, three with replacement lintels, and two entrances now blocked; the west end now partly rendered with several new openings and a large works entry of late C20 date. Roof of semi-circular form carried on eight iron sickle-girders; the crown of the roof having a glazed lantern running most of the length of the building. INTERIOR: has glazed white and brown brick to dado, and partitions to west end. The Spencer brothers were pioneering aeronauts of the late C19 and were noted for their work in perfecting the design of the parachute and balloon. In 1900 Stanley Spencer constructed one of the first hydrogen-filled balloons, or airships. Of these he is counted a pioneer, along with Count Von Zeppelin and the Brazilian Santos-Dumont. (J.M.Bacon: The Dominion of the Air: 1902-: PP.338-9).

Listing NGR: TQ3205285468