Sutton Place, Hackney

The Georgian terrace of 1790–1806, is Grade II listed as a whole, together with the villas on the north side of the street which date from 1820, and is sited in the conservation area around the gardens of St John-at-Hackney.

This was a technique whereby the entire frontage was given a coating of soot, before fine white lining was applied to the darkened mortar between the bricks.

Wrought iron railings and a light well separate the frontages from the street, with under pavement cellars for each house.

The Hackney Proprietary Grammar school opened in 1830, on the north side of the street, adjacent to St John's churchyard, providing education for 130 boys.

There are two small blocks of flats at either end of the north side, filling in gaps in the terrace, but in keeping with the villas.

The (unsightly) office block on the north-western corner was built to service the factory, on the site of the former Hackney Grammar School.

Originally, the street was occupied by wealthy merchants and gentry, including at least one mayor of Hackney and the exiled German poet and revolutionary Ferdinand Freiligrath.

home, Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, actually an attempt to save poor girls from a life of prostitution).

Unusually, the street retains the original practice of sequentially numbering adjacent buildings (rather than grouping evens and odds).