Department of National Heritage – two blue plaques in Holloway, N7*

(Edited from my Substack feed):
At the southern end of Tufnell Park Road, N7, almost opposite the Odeon cinema, there are some of Holloway’s oldest houses. Two of them sport elliptical blue plaques* and I’ve often stopped to admire them without really thinking about them, as I did again whilst out for a stroll last week:

Until I started writing this, I hadn’t noticed it is actually one house with an extension at the side, which today is a separate house with its own front door. As you can see, the main property is currently available for rent. Also, the darker of the two badges sits at the centre of the paired villas so might also apply to its symmetrically opposite partner to the right (mostly out of shot here).

Department of National Heritage / Grade II listed house

I’ve not seen the like anywhere else in London and I wonder if this elliptical design predates the ubiquitous circular ones?

Being as these are different shades of blue, I’d assume they were affixed at different times. I’m tempted to date the darker one on the main part of the house to the late 1880s when this was an upwardly mobile area for the middle classes** - the people living in these older houses at that time would likely have been keen to prove the historical kudos whilst proclaiming ‘we were here before you!’The lighter badge would surely have been added when the house was subdivided into two properties.

UPDATE: Hmm. Ah No... Turns out they might only date from 1982: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-national-heritage

Whenever they date from, I'm pretty sure that these two small beauties are the only blue plaques of any kind in N7.

………..

*Plaques or badges? Is it a size thing?

**Yes, really! Find out more on my Mr Pooter’s Holloway guided tour bringing The Diary of A Nobody to life, soon to be available in January via janeslondonwalks.com