Islington and Shoreditch in the 1930s

Two films were made by Pathé Films, which were shown in cinemas in the 1930’s to raise loan share finance to fund the building of ISHA’s first homes.

The films show the housing conditions in Islington and Hackney, and highlight the desperate need for good quality affordable housing in the 1930’s. The films were made for Islington and Finsbury Housing Association and Shoreditch Housing Association, which later merged to become Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association.

The film shows St Katherine’s House, the first ISHA homes, being opened by Lilian Bayliss, and Burbage House being opened by the Countess of Lytton and being visited by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen’s Mother) in 1938.

Watch the film below, and then you can click here to see the latest films made by ISHA residents in 2010 about where they live.

Islington & Shoreditch Housing Association in the 1930's from Islington Shoreditch on Vimeo.

Please note: This is a large film file, if you have a slow internet connection it may take some time to load. The best way to get it to load if you have a slow connection is to press play, then pause it right away so it starts to load the file. Once the grey bar fills the box it will be fully loaded and you will be able to watch it all the way through.