"The next major change was around the garden, when the entire western side was flattened to build the Packington Estate in the late 1960s. This was a time when much of what are now multi-million-pound houses were pretty shabby, slum-grade houses, and at the time, no one thought them worth saving. The rebuilding decision swept away all the Victorian houses on the western side, and the garden itself gained a large pond in the middle."
"Those 1960s blocks lasted even less time than the Victorian houses they replaced, and were in turn demolished in 2007, and the council estate redeveloped. As part of that project, they reinstated a modern version of the original row of Victorian houses facing onto Union Square. You can see the difference more sharply from above, as the modern row of houses has a long flat roof, whereas the originals on the eastern side have the usual pointed roofs."
Union Square originated as a private Victorian garden square on the Clothworkers' Estate in the 1840s for the surrounding houses. Local calls for public access emerged by the early 1900s, and ownership transferred in 1946 when the freehold passed to Islington Borough Council, after which the gardens opened to the public. The western side was cleared for the Packington Estate in the late 1960s, introducing a large central pond. The 1960s blocks were demolished in 2007 and redeveloped, reinstating a modern terrace facing the square. The central pocket park now appears slightly run-down, with dense tree cover and a lawn needing care.
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