‘Long overdue’ Dalston Conservation Area leaves out key heritage buildings

Vulnerable: The unprotected Reeves Printhouse on Ashwin Street in Dalston

Local preservation groups have welcomed Hackney Council’s plans for increased protection of Dalston’s historic architecture, but have warned that the proposed conservation areas do not stretch far enough.

Hackney Council proposes to create the Dalston Conservation Area to protect one of the oldest Roads in Britain, the Roman Ermine Street, now known as Kingsland High Street.

The new conservation area, which if approved would be the borough’s 30th, would stretch from Tottenham Road in the south to Somerfield Grove in the north.

Under the proposals, the boundaries of the existing Albion Square Conservation Area would also be extended to include the Victorian architecture of Queensbridge Primary School.

However, while the Dalston Conservation Area Advisory Committee (DCAAC) has welcomed the council’s proposals, it has also expressed concern that a number of historic buildings have been omitted from the plans.

A DCAAC spokesperson said: “We are very concerned that the council has failed to confer conservation area protection on the buildings around Abbot and Ashwin Street which include The Reeves Colourworks and Printhouse, the Shiloh Pentecostal Church, the Railway Tavern and Springfield House.

“We urge the council to include them in the new Dalston Conservation Area or by extending the Dalston Lane (West) Conservation area.”

Out in the cold: Springfield House on Tyssen Street would also remain unprotected

Bill Parry-Davis, founder of conservation campaign group OPEN Dalston, which recently lost a ten-year battle to halt the demolition of a string of Georgian terraces on Dalston Lane, said the Dalston Conservation Area was “long overdue”.

Parry-Davies added: “Damage to the High Street’s historic character is already being caused by the Taylor Wimpey schemes currently under construction which might have prevented had the Conservation Area already been in place when their planning applications were considered.

He also expressed concern that the “significant heritage buildings” mentioned by the DCAAC have been omitted from protection.

A spokesperson for The Hackney Society said: “Conservation areas should be seen as an essential tool for developers, planners and locals alike as they acknowledge the contribution to heritage and culture our buildings make and recognise that they are more than just the four walls behind which to live and work.”