Manor Gardens Health And Community Centre

Manor Gardens Health and Community Centre comprises a complex of buildings with origins in the early 19th century, expanded in the 1920s, and now incorporating numbers 8 and 9 Manor Gardens. The western wing was originally a pair of semi-detached houses, while the central block was built between 1927 and 1928 for the North Islington School for Mothers, with a connecting block added at the same time or later. The entire group now functions as a health and community centre.

The early 19th-century buildings are constructed of yellow brick in Flemish bond, while the centre wing uses English bond. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate. The early houses are two and three storeys high, with three windows each, while the centre block is two and three storeys and has a five-window range. The early houses feature steps leading to flat-arched entrances recessed in the outer bay, with stucco surrounds including pilasters; the original entablature is now missing. The doorcases have panelled pilasters with a cornice, sidelights, and an overlight with decorative glazing, along with panelled doors of original design. All windows have gauged brick heads, with ground-floor windows round-arched and first-floor windows flat-arched. The windows are mainly 6/6 sash windows of original design, except for a blank westernmost first-floor window. Most ground-floor windows retain radiating glazing bars, and have boxed eaves. The roofs are hipped with dormers and stacks to the party walls.

The central block has a segmental-arched entrance within a single-storey porch on the recessed left wing, featuring a dentil cornice and parapet above. Ground-floor windows are flat-arched, set back within a round-arched panel and with gauged brick heads. First-floor windows have flat arches and stone or composition stone lintels. A storey band separates the second floor, which has small flat-arched windows set under the eaves and featuring mutules. The linking wing has flat-arched windows, most with gauged brick heads.

The North Islington School for Mothers was founded in 1913 and was a pioneering organization in voluntary social work within the borough.