r/london • u/mrjamieb • 1d ago
Image What building is this?
I walk past this building (from afar) often, this is the view of it looking north-west from the top of Cornwall Avenue at the junction with Ballards Lane (N3). What is it??
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u/Mrsnosey-bonk 1d ago
It is the old Medical Research building on The Ridgeway in Mill Hill (just past The Adam and Eve pub). Has been turned into luxury apartments.
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u/wunt_be_druv 23h ago
has been turned into luxury apartments
As is tradition
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u/CopiousBees 1d ago
To be pedantic, it's a brand new building mimicking the look of the old research building.
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u/HereNow-NotLeaving 21h ago
I used to work up there back in the early 00s and drove past the old one every day. There were regularly groups of animal rights activists protesting outside. I went back years later saw it had been demolished, so seeing it here was a surprise.
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u/ChemicalLou 22h ago
I used to live down the road. They filmed the first Christian Bale Batman there. Think they did a lot of animal testing there, occasionally you’d smell burnt scrambled eggs.
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u/FearTinn 1d ago
Fun fact- the exterior and some internal rooms were used as Arkham Asylum in Batman Begins
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u/daxamiteuk 22h ago
I recognised that instantly, I used to work there! I assumed it was all knocked down by now.
The NIMR was shut down and many of the labs moved down to the new Francis Crick institute near Kings Cross
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u/Nutjob4742 22h ago
They knocked it down and rebuilt it as flats, with the same signature green roof.
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u/melted-brie-n-bacon 22h ago
That’s a shame. Didn’t realise it wasn’t the original
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u/Nutjob4742 18h ago
Yeah not sure if they used the old roof or it's just a mimic. I doubt it actually copper. Shame they pulled the place down but it did smell weird around there, my parents used to tell me it was the smell of them burning hamsters in the research facilities.
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u/PhatNick 21h ago
I think it was one of very few institutions that were authorised to keep the smallpox virus in case it was needed to make vaccines.
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u/Aggravating-Nail-764 20h ago
I did my PhD there - it is very sad that it has gone (it was brilliant for research). For the first few months, I lived onsite. It wax rather off living behind security gates.
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u/daxamiteuk 20h ago
I did too! The student cottages were…homely haha
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u/Aggravating-Nail-764 20h ago
Oh wow! Another person who lived there. I stayed initially as I had no money, but I moved out as soon as I could afford to. It just felt so old living there. How long did you last?
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u/Appropriate-Pie3968 7h ago
FYI The build originally roof is made from copper which has reacted to the oxygen in the air turning it green.
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