Duncan Street, Islington, 2025

Time to confess my secret fondness for split-level buildings. They remind me of such structures in the homeland, where shops may be on ground and first floors, the latter accessed by an external walkway, streets-in-the-sky style.

The rear of this row of buildings has garages on the ground floor with three floors above, where the front only has two, seemingly with no change in elevation. I assumed the flats, internally, would also feature some split-level malarkey, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, a Rightmove listing for one of the flats reveals another fun feature – top floor flats feature private courtyards in the centre of the building.

Notice, too, the brick benches built in between sets of steps.