Albert Street, Camden

The street leads, at its north-west end, to Parkway (the A2401 road) and, at the south-east end, to Delancey Street (the A503 road). Arlington Road runs parallel to the east with Mornington Terrace to the west. The nearest station is Camden Town on London Underground's Northern line.

The artist Frank Auerbach had studios at No. 4 and painted a number of works featuring Albert Street. One of these paintings, 'Albert Street, 2009', estimated to be worth millions of pounds, was recovered from a convicted money launder and subsequently sold by the National Crime Agency.{{Cite news |last=Bakare |first=Lanre |date=2024-05-01 |title=Frank Auerbach painting seized from money launderer to be sold by NCA |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/may/01/frank-auerbach-painting-seized-from-money-launderer-to-be-sold-by-nca |access-date=2024-12-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

The writer, journalist and Labour MP Dick Leonard (1930–2021), his wife Irène Heidelberger-Leonard, Professor of German Literature, their son Mark Leonard (born 1974), political scientist and author, and their daughter Miriam Leonard (born 1976), Professor of Greek Literature, have all lived at No. 18.{{Cite web |title=Leonard. Mark Hugo |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01587922/officers?page=2 |access-date=10 September 2021 |website=Companies House}} Dick Leonard died there in 2021.{{Cite news |last=Billson |first=Chantelle |date=30 June 2021 |title='Incredibly proud': Former Romford MP Dick Leonard passes away at 90 |work=Romford Recorder |url=https://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/obituaries/dick-leonard-passes-away-at-90-8097426 |access-date=9 September 2021}}

No. 20, known as Tudor Lodge, which has been listed Grade II by Historic England, was built in the 1840s as a house and studios for the artist Charles Lucy (1814–1873). The poet and novelist George MacDonald (1824–1905), who lived there from 1860 to 1863, described the house in his 1871 novel The Vicar's Daughter.{{NHLE |num=1390617|desc= Tudor Lodge|date = 2 September 2003 |access-date= 9 September 2021}} It now has a blue plaque, commemorating MacDonald, that was erected by English Heritage in 2005.{{Cite web |title=MacDonald, George (1824–1905) |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/george-macdonald/ |access-date=9 September 2021 |publisher=Historic England}}

The Liverpool-born writer, theatre critic and artist Beryl Bainbridge (1932−2010) lived at No. 42 for 45 years.{{Cite magazine |last=Scurr |first=Ruth |author-link= Ruth Scurr|date=21 October 2016 |title=Life writing: Telling the story of Beryl Bainbridge's books and love affairs |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/life-writing-4/ |magazine=Times Literary Supplement |access-date=9 September 2021}}{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Jojo |date=12 December 2010 |title=The Beryl Bainbridge I knew, by her daughter |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/dec/12/beryl-bainbridge-obituary-by-jojo-davies |access-date=9 September 2021}}{{Cite book |last=Sutherland |first=John |author-link=John Sutherland (author)|title=The Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives |publisher=Profile Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84668-157-8 |location=London |pages=664}} In 1967 she painted Napoleon Dancing at 42 Albert St, Camden Town, to the Strains of the Gramophone.{{Cite news |date=23 November 2012 |title=Beryl Bainbridge art to go on show in Liverpool |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20461287 |access-date=9 September 2021}}{{Cite news |last=Wainwright |first=Martin |author-link= Martin Wainwright (journalist)|date=26 November 2012 |title=Have you got an early Beryl Bainbridge on your walls? |work=The Guardian |url=http://theguardian.datatrendz.info/uk/the-northerner/2012/nov/26/berylbainbridge-liverpool |access-date=9 September 2021}}

John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971), the Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology, lived and died at No. 44. In 2001 English Heritage placed a blue plaque there to commemorate him.

The writer and broadcaster Robert Elms (born 1959) lives at No. 74.{{Cite web |title=Elms, Robert Frederick |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04967577/officers |access-date=10 September 2021 |website=Companies House}}{{Cite news |date=3 December 2015 |title=Radio presenter Robert Elms kept awake as HS2 start manhole work in middle of night |work=Camden New Journal |url=http://camdennewjournal.com/article/elmshs2?sp=8&sq=HS2 |access-date=9 September 2021}}

Noel Gallagher, founder and singer of Oasis, lived at No. 88 prior to moving to Supernova Heights. Gallagher has referred to receiving a phone call from his manager informing him that he had become a millionaire whilst living in this flat.{{Cite web |title=An Oasis Lover’s Guide to Camden |url=https://www.camdenmarket.com/journal/an-oasis-lovers-guide-to-camden |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=Camden Market |language=en-US}}

A terrace of 27 houses (Nos. 45 to 97) was built in 1845 and is Grade II listed.{{NHLE |num= 1378630|desc= Numbers 45–97 And Attached Railings|date = 14 May 1974|access-date= 8 September 2021}} The Yorkshire-born architect William Henry Crossland (1835–1908), who designed Rochdale Town Hall, Holloway Sanatorium and Royal Holloway College, died at No. 57 on 14 November 1908.{{Cite book |last=Elliott|first= John |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/search?q=William+Crossland&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true |title=Crossland, William Henry |date=23 September 2004 |publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |access-date=1 February 2021}}Binns, Sheila (2020). W.H. Crossland: An Architectural Biography. The Lutterworth Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7188-9548-8}}. pp. 235–236.

The artists Victor Willing and Paula Rego lived at No. 87 during the 1960s. {{Cite web |title=Names beginning with the letter W – Camden Notables |url=https://www.camdenology.org/names-beginning-with-the-letter-w/ |access-date=2024-12-23 |language=en-GB}}

Sir Tim Lankester, former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England, and the first economic private secretary to Margaret Thatcher lived at 103.

A terrace of nine houses (Nos. 123 to 139) was built in about 1845 and is Grade II listed.{{NHLE|num=1378643|desc=Numbers 123–139 And Attached Railings|date=14 May 1974|access-date=30 July 2017}} Nos. 129 to 131 are now called Raymond Burton House, which is the location of Jewish Museum London.

Bernard Miles, Baron Miles, actor and founder of the Mermaid Theatre lived at No. 139 during the 1950s. {{Cite web |title=Miles, Bernard James, 1907-1991 (1st Baron Miles, actor, writer and director) {{!}} ArchiveSearch |url=https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/agents/people/9681 |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk}}

No. 141, on the corner of Albert Street and Parkway, is a pub, The Spread Eagle.{{Cite web |title=Welcome to the Spread Eagle |url=https://www.spreadeaglecamden.co.uk/ |access-date=10 September 2021 |website=The Spread Eagle}} It is Grade II listed.{{NHLE |num=1322062|desc=Spread Eagle Public House|date = 14 May 1974|access-date= 9 September 2021}}. The Spread Eagle featured extensively in the early life of Bruce Robinson, the creator of Withnail and I. Robinson used to go to the Spread Eagle to cash benefits cheques. {{Cite web |last=Dawson |first=Jeff |date=2009-06-14 |title=Story behind Withnail and I, forty years on |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/story-behind-withnail-and-i-forty-years-on-nzgxdq9pntl |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}

At the other end of the street, a Grade II-listed house, No. 38 Delancey Street, has an entrance on Albert Street.{{NHLE |num= 1067392|desc= Number 38 And Attached Railings|date = 11 January 1999|access-date= 9 September 2021}}{{Cite web |date=22 June 2004 |title=Number 38 And Attached Railings |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/12522/02 |access-date=9 September 2021 |publisher=Historic England}}

London's first mosque was opened in 1895 at a house in Albert Street.{{Cite web |last=Noble, Will |date=23 February 2017 |title=A Tour Guide Has Discovered London's Oldest Mosque |url=https://londonist.com/london/history/a-tour-guide-has-discovered-london-s-oldest-mosque |access-date=8 September 2021 |website=Londonist}}

Albert Street North Residents’ Association represents the interests of local residents who live at the street's north end.{{Cite web |title=Albert Street North Residents' Association |url=http://asnra.org/ |access-date=10 September 2021 |website=Albert Street North Residents’ Association}}

File:GEORGE MACDONALD 1824-1905 Story Teller lived here 1860-1863.jpg|Blue plaque at No. 20, commemorating George MacDonald

File:John-Desmond-Bernal-1901-1971.jpg|Blue plaque at No. 44, commemorating J. D. Bernal

File:Jewish Museum London.jpg|Exterior of Jewish Museum London at Nos. 129−131

File:Spread Eagle, Camden Town, NW1 (7788511956).jpg|The Spread Eagle pub at No. 141, on the corner of Albert Street and Parkway

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Category:Camden Town

Category:Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden

Category:Former mosques in the United Kingdom

Category:Streets in the London Borough of Camden