The Victorian Society has published its annual list of the top 10 most endangered buildings in England, with a disused public health building in Hackney claiming the top spot. The Grade II listed former municipal disinfecting station on Millfields Road in Clapton, built in 1901 and designed by architects Gordon and Gunton, is thought to be the last surviving example of its kind in the country.
A relic of public health history
Commissioned in 1899 when diseases such as smallpox, scarlet fever and measles were rife, the station was used by the local council to disinfect residents' contaminated clothing and other belongings at scale. In that year alone, 115 children died from measles in Hackney. The station closed in 1984, at a time when many Victorian buildings were being demolished, and was placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register in 1995.
Despite its disuse, the Victorian Society notes that the building's firm walls and stable foundation make it easier to adapt for modern use compared to other listed structures. Morgan Ellis Leah, Southern Conservation Adviser for the Victorian Society, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "There's real deprivation of community space at the moment and it's a perfectly good building that can be put to public use."
Call for sensitive reuse
The charity emphasised that the building is a testament to a time when public health investment was "ambitious and architecturally expressive" and that the only viable option for its future is a "sensitive" sale and reuse. James Hughes, Director of the Victorian Society, said the building tells "a powerful story about how society responded to crisis, and how civic ambition shaped the built environment."
A spokesperson for Hackney Council acknowledged that budget constraints make it difficult to carry out "costly" restorations of heritage buildings but confirmed that the council continues to maintain the Millfields Road depot and is "looking at options for self-sustaining uses." The spokesperson highlighted recent successful refurbishments of other heritage buildings, such as Abney Park Chapel and The Portico in Clapton, which have been removed from the Heritage at Risk register. In 2024, the art deco Stoke Newington Town Hall was added to the register due to decay, collapsing roofs and leaks.
Other endangered buildings
The disinfecting station joins a varied group of Victorian and Edwardian buildings on this year's top 10 endangered list, including a former railway station in Cumbria, an "iconic" transporter bridge in Middlesbrough and a neo-Gothic art school.
