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The Canonbury Tower is a hidden gem built in the 16th century and once home to Sir Francis Bacon and Oliver Goldsmith.
It was built in 1509 and is part of the Canonbury Manor which was in the ownership by the Priory and Canons of St Bartholomew. Prior Bolton had a residence here dating back to Henry III's reign. When the Priory was dissolved in 1539 the Manor was granted by the King to Thomas Cromwell, although after his execution in 1540 it reverted to the Crown, remaining so until it was granted to the Duke of Northumberland by Edward VI.
In 1570 Canonbury Manor was acquired by John (later Sir John) Spencer, Clothworker and Lord Mayor of London, who made various improvements to the house- the fine oak panelling in the Spencer and Compton rooms is his work.
When Sir John Spencer died in 1610 the manor and tower were inherited by his daughter Elizabeth. In 1599 Elizabeth had married William, second Lord Compton - tradition says that they eloped, Elizabeth concealed in a baker’s basket, and her lover disguised as a baker’s boy. Lord Compton became Earl of Northampton in 1618 and Canonbury was passed on to the Northampton family, with whom it has remained ever since.
Illustrious tenants of Canonbury House included Sir Francis Bacon from1616-25, and Sir Thomas Coventry in 1625, who like Bacon was Attorney General. In the small garden of the tower is a mulberry tree said to be planted when Sir Francis Bacon was a tenant.
During the Commonwealth the third Earl of Northampton lived mainly at Canonbury although from the 1650s the family was forced to mortgage Canonbury to pay debts, at which time Canonbury Tower was separately leased to the main House.
The present Canonbury House with the adjacent Tower in the garden was built in 1795 and during the 18th century, the Tower and adjoining buildings were let to a succession of important figures in the world of literature, politics and the press, including Henry Woodfall of the 'Public Advertiser' and dramatist Oliver Goldsmith from 1762-64 who lived in the Compton Oak Room on the second floor of the Canonbury Tower.
In the years from 1770 until 1780 the southern range of the building was demolished and replaced by elegant new villas – now 1-5 Canonbury Place.
A community hall was built in the garden in 1907.
In the 1960s Canonbury Tower was leased to the Tower Theatre, which was established by the Tavistock Repertory Company, but after the lease expired in 2003 the company moved to Hornsey Road Baths.
Today it houses a Masonic Research Center.