John Islip Street commemorates the Abbot of Westminster between 1500 and 1532.
Islip entered the monastery as a 16 year old in 1480, rising up the ranks to eventually become friends with both Henry VII and VIII. Probably a good job he died before the Dissolution of the Monasteries a few years later.
While Islip was Abbot, the Abbey’s nave was finished and the west towers built as high as the nave roof. The Lady Chapel was also started under his tenure, with the Abbot laying the foundation stone.
Millbank Estate is a red-brick housing estate that gives the area behind Tate Britain a distinct character. The estate was built between 1897 and 1902, the bricks being recycled from Millbank Penitentiary, which had closed in 1890.
It was one of the first large council housing estates for the working classes, and accommodated 4500 people. It marked an important milestone in the development of local authority housing and the evolution of ‘Arts and Crafts’ principles of architecture as applied to large scale housing projects. The quality of design, layout and materials at the Millbank estate set an important standard for the further development of that movement and social housing.
The 17 buildings with 562 flats, comprising one of London’s earliest social housing schemes, are named after distinguished painters such as Turner, Gainsborough and Millais.
The original estate layout radiated from gardens on Dundonald Street. By 1910 this had broken through the northern side of Ponsonby Place to join Roehampton Street. Later as the area north of the penitentiary site was redeveloped, Dundonald Street linked into this network to provide a continuous straight route from Vauxhall Bridge Road to Horse Ferry Road and was renamed John Islip Street.
The Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital on the street was opened officially in July 1905 by King Edward VII and his wife Alexandra, and their daughter Princess Victoria, who gave their names to three wards.
