In Stoke Newington you will find a building with a very unusual feature leftover from World War Two.
Stoke Newington Town Hall was built in 1937, designed by the architect J Reginald Truelove. Laid out in a sweeping crescent shape, it has art deco design motifs throughout and lavish portland stone dressings on the exterior.
As you will notice from the date, when the building opened, the Second World War was just around the corner.
War Clouds Gather
In the run up to the war, heavy bombing of London was expected and many steps therefore were taken in preparation. Blackout, for example, was enforced across the country from the 1st September 1939 so that landmarks could not easily be spotted by the bombers.
In Stoke Newington the authorities became very concerned that their brand new, bright building would show up to the Nazi bombers flying overhead and become a target, or even used by the Luftwaffe as a navigation tool.
The basement of the Town Hall was also used as the Stoke Newington Civil Defence Control Centre. A reinforced ceiling was installed, still in place today. It was therefore a strategically important site too.
It was therefore decided to attempt to camouflage the building.
Camouflaging The Hall
Paints in earthy tones such as greens, browns and yellows, were applied in curving blocks to the exterior.
It can most clearly be seen on the front of the building, behind the columns, but also around the back. Make sure, if you visit, to walk around the entire building.
Amazingly, the plan sort of worked. Despite lots of buildings around the town hall suffering a lot of damage, such as the nearby St Mary’s church, the Town Hall only suffered minor blast damage. How much the camouflage paint played into this, I guess we shall never know.
Due to the rarity of this feature (I do not know of any other buildings, certainly in central London, with this), the paint has thankfully been preserved today as a historical monument.
You can read about another amazing World War Two survivor here.
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This was interesting for me as I remember the first night of the blitz very well. My mother and I hid under the stairs all night. I was six years old.
😘 I’m sorry you had to go through that. I cannot imagine what that must have been like.
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