Stables
STABLES, 55, BALFE STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1389545
- Date first listed:
- 06-Nov-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Stables
- Statutory Address:
- STABLES, 55, BALFE STREET
Location
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1389545
- Date first listed:
- 06-Nov-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Stables
- Statutory Address 1:
- STABLES, 55, BALFE STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- STABLES, 55, BALFE STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Islington (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 30409 83270
Details
635-1/0/10130 BALFE STREET
06-NOV-01 55
Stables
GV II
Stables. C.1895 for the London General Omnibus Company. Designer unknown. Stock brick and white glazed brick, concrete floors and ramped stairs, steel frame, timber trussed roofs; roof covering (recently renewed) not seen. Entry punched through a Georgian end-or-terrace house; sloping carriageway paved with granite setts, bollards and kerbs. Inner yard roofed over with concrete floor to stabling above, carried on a steel frame: single round column to north-east corner, otherwise open; supervisor's booth in south-west corner; ramped stair along south side. Beyond yard to west is the ground floor stable: steel frame with I-section stanchions and supporting floor of concrete, with grooved, cobble-like surface of paviours; sloping skylight along south and west sides, remains of forge at south-west corner with rails set onto floor related to the former furnace. Ramped stair, L-shaped, with shallow, much-repaired, grooved concrete steps. First floor has stabling at two levels: a large, lower area at west and a smaller, higher area to east. Trap-door opposite top of stairs. West stable has an open queen-post trussed roof with glazed lantern along its entire length; trevises either side of ramp leading up to stable bear the letters LGOCo, for London General Omnibus Company; vertical boarding with upswept rail either side of ramp. East stable is smaller but similar, with a pair of similar trevises with boarding flanking ramp. HISTORY: this was built for the London General Omnibus Company, and could accommodate 79 horses. As heavy draft horses used to working in teams, they could be stabled communally and did not need partitions. At its peak in 1900 the LGOC owned nearly 17,000 horses; the company went bankrupt in 1912. This complex is of special interest as a well-preserved commercial stable building, indicating the importance of horses in pre-20th century city life. It is of further interest on account of its steel frame, and is the only example so far identified of such a technique being used for this type of building.
Source: Anne Upson, 'Stables to rear 55 Balfe Street', report by AOC Archaeology Group, 2001.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 488231
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Upson, A, AOC Archaeology Group Report in Stables to Rear 55 Balfe Street, (2001)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 22-Jun-2026 at 03:00:43.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.