St Luke's, London


St Luke's is a district in central London in the London Borough of Islington. It lies just north of the border with the City of London near the Barbican Estate, Farringdon and Shoreditch areas. The area takes its name from the now redundant church of St Luke's, on Old Street west of Old Street station. Following the closure of St Luke's Church, the parish was reabsorbed into that of St Giles-without-Cripplegate, City of London.
The area extends north of the church to City Road and south to Finsbury Square and Whitecross Street. St Luke's is inside the London Congestion Charging Zone and ULEZ, and is located in Zone 1. The nearest tube and railway stations are Barbican, Farringdon and Old Street.

History

The civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Luke's was created on the construction of the church in 1733, from the part of the existing parish of St Giles Cripplegate outside the City of London.
Being outside the City boundaries, the parish had a large non-conformist population. John Wesley's house and Wesley's Chapel are in City Road, as is Bunhill Fields burial ground.
In 1751, St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, an asylum, was founded. It was rebuilt in 1782–1784 by George Dance the Younger. In 1917, the site was sold to the Bank of England for St Luke's Printing Works, which printed banknotes. The building was damaged by the Blitz of 1940, and the printing works were relocated in 1958 to Debden, Essex.
The Grade II listed Ironmonger Row Baths were built as a public wash house in 1931. Turkish baths were added in 1938.
The civil parish became officially known as "St Luke's Middlesex". The parish was historically in the county of Middlesex, and was included in the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855. Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Luke was divided into five wards : No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5.
From 1889 it was part of the County of London. The vestry administered local government in the area until the civil parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury in 1899. In 1965, that borough was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of Islington to form the London Borough of Islington.
The eponymous parish church closed in 1959 after its structure was found to be unsafe, and the parish reunited with St Giles-without-Cripplegate. The church building has been restored and is now home to a concert hall and rehearsal space used by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Street name etymologies

St Luke's has no formal boundaries. Those used here form a rough triangle: City Road and Finsbury Pavement/Finsbury Square to the east, the boundary with the City of London to the south, and Goswell Road to the west.
Whitecross Street Market is a market with stalls arranged in Whitecross Street and the road closed to traffic. There is a small general market every weekday, and a larger food market on Thursdays and Fridays. It has occasional food festivals.
The market dates to the 17th century, and was formerly one of London's great Sunday markets, although today trading is largely limited to lunchtimes. By the end of the 19th century, the area had become a by-word for poverty and alcohol abuse. It became known as Squalors' Market.

St Luke's Parochial Trust

St Luke's Parochial Trust is an historic charity still operating in the St Luke's area, fulfilling its original purpose of improving the lives of local people. It has its origins in the gifts of land and money from benefactors to the ancient parish as far back as the 16th century. The charity owns and manages a busy community centre on Central Street, from which a wide range of community activities and services are delivered and coordinated.
The community centre was originally the Central Street Board School, one of many Victorian era schools built and managed by the London School Board. The school closed during the Second World War whilst local school children were evacuated to the countryside to avoid the Blitz. The school reopened and operated after the war as the Frank Barnes School for the Deaf until the mid-1970s. St Luke's Parochial Trust purchased the building in 1979, and converted it to a community centre which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982.

Transport

The London Underground Northern line and the National Rail Northern City Line provide services at Old Street station on St Luke's eastern edge.