ECP Monson, architect of the Town Hall in Upper Street

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ONE hundred years after the architect of Islington’s first council housing laid the foundation stone of the Town Hall, his great-grandson returned to Upper Street to mark the centenary.

Edward Charles Philip (ECP) Monson designed several estates across the borough in the 1920s and 1930s, and while private philanthropists had built some public housing prior to that, the first council-funded block in Islington was one of Mr Monson’s, built in 1922 just around the corner from the Town Hall and still occupied by council tenants today.

ECP’s great-grandson, Jeremy Monson, is a second generation Morris dancer who grew up near Watford but has lived in Islington for 40 years.

Now retired and involved in community volunteering, he used to answer phones for the Metropolitan Police at their station on Tolpuddle Street and play music in primary schools.

Jeremy Monson, who gave a brief recital on his accordion, is pictured alongside the foundation stone which was laid 100 years ago. The stone bears Mr Monson’s name on the bottom right-hand corner

“One of the things I could thank ECP for is the connection with Islington,” said Jeremy, who now lives near Brecknock Road and remembers his father commuting to London five days a week, parking by Highbury Fields and catching a train to Moorgate to work at the family business, ECP Monson and Co.

When Jeremy was a child his father would bring large sheets of paper home for them to scribble on – building blueprints from the office.

“I was aware that this centenary was coming up and I thought it was worth­while doing something about it, especially as it does have relevance and resonances today, what with the level of rents and other issues,” Jeremy said.

While he did not continue in the family architecture firm, Jeremy did inherit the love of Morris dancing from his parents, who met through dancing at university.

Jeremy Monson, right, with Islington mayor Anjna Khurana at Sutton Dwellings, opposite the Town Hall, which ECP Monson designed

“My grandfather did freemasonry, but my father would have none of this hanging out with strange practices and dressing up in strange clothes, so he became a Morris dancer,” he joked.

Jeremy still practises with his own university friends at Cecil Sharp House on a weekly basis.

Although ECP died before Jeremy was born, one of his father’s cousins does remember meeting the architect when she was a child.

“She thought he wasn’t very child-friendly, but hey, he was a Victorian,” Jeremy said.

ECP lost his eldest son and his younger brother to the First World War which, Jeremy added, may have fortified his commitment to building social housing. This would have been aligned with the post-war social attitude of “homes fit for heroes”, referring to the idea that the government had a responsibility to provide for soldiers returning from the war.

As well as the Town Hall, built in 1925, and Islington’s first housing estate, Halton Mansions, ECP Monson designed the Sutton Dwellings, opposite the Town Hall; Masefield Court, near Newington Green; and Brecknock Road estate, all of which have stood the test of time.