Lisson Green is described as a hamlet in the Domesday book.
Originally Lisson Grove was part of the medieval manor of Lilestone which stretched north to Hampstead. Lisson Green broke away as a new manor in 1236 and had its own manor house.
’Lissing Green’ becames a recreation area for Londoners. By the 1790s, the Green was a large open space stretching down to Chapel Street and the Old Marylebone Road. Beside it on Lisson Grove, the Lissing Green/Lissom Grove village was part of a network of country lanes, on the east side of Edgware Road. At the southern end of the Green was the Yorkshire Stingo inn from whence stagecoaches set off for all parts.
Earlier, in 1771, Lisson Green was bought by James Stephens and Daniel Bullock, manufacturers of white lead. They set up the White Lead Manufactory next to the Nursery Garden, with unrecorded consequences to health. But until the late 18th century the district remained essentially rural.
In 1821 Sir Edward Baker, who gave his name to Baker Street, purchased land from Daniel Bullock and built houses on it. The result was to wipe out Lisson Green.
The arrival of the Regent’s Canal in 1810 and the railway at Marylebone in 1899 led to rapid urbanisation of Lisson Grove. As the nineteenth century wore on, the area developed into a slum – there was extreme poverty and the squalor of the homes was notorious. The area was known for drinking, crime and prostitution.
Following the First World War, Prime Minister David Lloyd George announced the ’Homes Fit for Heroes’ scheme. Lisson Grove was to benefit from the plan. In 1924, the Metropolitan Borogh of St Marylebone completed the Fisherton Street Estate of seven blocks built in red-brick neo-Georgian style grouped around courtyards. Noted for their innovation, they were some of the first social housing to include an indoor bathroom and toilet.
