Former Public Conveniences, 156 Lower Clapton Road, E5

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These former public conveniences are located at the apex of Millfields and Mildenhall Roads. The building is a single-storey curved building in an Arts and Crafts style. It is constructed of red brick and has a large, low-pitched hipped roof with a recessed window above the eaves at the front. Four segmental dormers are located at eaves level (two at the back and two at either end). The roof has a small green, louvered cupola. A large veranda inset underneath the overhanging eaves extends along the front elevation. The veranda is covered with terracotta tiles and leads to the male and female toilets. The veranda is supported by four brick piers. In 1898 the Hackney Vestry acquired the neglected Clapton Pond and Paddocks in order to transform this open space. The Public Gardens and Open Spaces Committee was responsible for laying out the gardens in the design that largely survives today. In 1901, a new borough council replaced the Vestry and it appears that the responsibility for Clapton Pond passed to the London County Council. It is likely that these public conveniences were commissioned by the LCC and built by the local builder William Shurmur and Sons Ltd in the 1930s. In the early- to mid-20th century Clapton Pond and Gardens, was a popular Hackney attraction that appeared in various postcards at the time. The public conveniences would have been built for these visitors to the pond. Today, the building is boarded up and threatened with demolition.

Arts and Crafts

Interwar (1914-1938)

public conveniences

William Shurmur and Sons Ltd?

These former public conveniences from the 1930s are a rare surviving example that reflects the popularity of Clapton Pond as a visitor destination in the early 20th-century. The building also forms a crucial focal point at the southern end of Clapton Pond. It is well proportioned building that is sympathetic to the shape of the apex that is formed by the two roads that meet here.