Editing Highbury (section)

== Residential growth ==

By 1794 Highbury consisted of Highbury House and Highbury Hill House, Highbury Barn and the gated terraces of Highbury Terrace and Highbury Place, which had been built on land leased by John Dawes. Highbury may have stayed this way, as the plan was to create a {{convert|250|acre|km2}} park&nbsp;– Albert Park&nbsp;– between St Paul's Road/Balls Pond Road and the Seven Sisters Road. Instead a {{convert|27.5|acre|m2}} site, which is now Highbury Fields was saved in 1869 and the {{convert|115|acre|m2}} Finsbury Park were created. The rest of the area was developed.

The greater part of the development of the area occurred in two phases; until the 1870s many large Italianate [[villa]]s were built, mostly in the southern part of Highbury. After this time, development went high-density with close packed mostly [[terraced house]]s being built, mainly in the north of Highbury. Available land continued to be in-filled with more housing until 1918, but little else changed until after [[World War II]].

A need for a place for Catholic residents of Highbury to worship in the 1920s led to the commissioning of St Joan of Arc's church, thought to be the first dedicated to the saint canonised in 1920,<ref name="londonreviewofbooks">{{cite journal|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n13/marina-warner/death-in-plain-sight?hq_e=el&hq_m=2586093&hq_l=11&hq_v=e32b94d7b1|title=Death in Plain Sight|author=Marina Warner on Emily Davison|journal=London Review of Books|date=2013-07-04|volume=35 |issue=13 |access-date=2016-05-04}}</ref> on a site on Kelross Road where the church hall is now located.{{r|londonreviewofbooks}} The church was soon expanded, but the influx of Catholic residents after the war led to a need for a new, larger church.<ref name="rcdow">{{cite web|url=http://www.rcdow.org.uk/highbury/aboutus/default.asp|publisher=Roman Catholic Church of St Joan of Arc|title=Roman Catholic Church of St Joan of Arc|access-date=2016-05-04|archive-date=30 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630124017/http://www.rcdow.org.uk/highbury/aboutus/default.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new church, also dedicated to St Joan of Arc, and designed by [[Stanley Kerr Bate]], opened on 23 September 1962 on Highbury Park.{{r|rcdow}}
[[File:St Joan of Arc Parish Church, Highbury.jpg|thumb|St Joan of Arc Parish Church, Highbury]]
Highbury was bombed during [[the Blitz]] and again by [[V-1 flying bomb]]s. On 27 June 1944, a V-1 destroyed Highbury Corner, killing 26 people and injuring 150. Highbury Corner had an impressive station and hotel which were damaged in this attack but its main building remained in use until demolished in the 1960s during the building of the [[Victoria Line]]. The original westbound platform buildings remain on the opposite side of Holloway Road, as does a small part of the original entrance to the left of the present station entrance. A red [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]], mounted on a building wall overlooking the [[roundabout]], commemorates this event.

After the Second World War large-scale rebuilding in parts of Highbury replaced bombed buildings and provided new municipal housing. Some villas that had not been modernised were demolished to make way for yet more municipal housing; some buildings had to be listed to protect them. Following the property boom in the early 1980s, there has been some [[gentrification]] in the area<ref>[https://archive.today/20120913034743/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertymarket/3337160/Highbury-onto-a-winner.html "Highbury onto a winner, ''Telegraph.co.uk'' 24 November 2004"]</ref> and the council has begun selling some of the grand villas to private developers who have the finances to restore them, e.g. in 2004 Islington council sold four buildings on Highbury New Park to developers for £1 million each.

The Highbury Community Association (HCA) was formed in 1997. Since then, the HCA has grown to represent residents and businesses in Highbury, Lower Holloway and Finsbury Park. The HCA campaigns on many different aspects of living and working in this area of North Islington in London.