This area is dominated by the Golden Lane Estate, which is the Barbican’s sister complex. Boxed in by shophouses along Goswell Road to the west, Old Street to the north, Whitecross Street to the east, and the Barbican to the south, the estate is a self-contained neighbourhood at the northern edge of the City of London. The eponymous Golden Lane runs through the centre of the estate. It also consists of a few listed buildings, with Crescent House (Grade-II* listed) among them. When the estate was originally conceived, it was designed to provide housing for single professionals and couples rather than to families like council housing estates does. The estate was designed to have a population density of 200 people per acre, though 60% of the site was designated as open space.

Golden Lane Estate predates the Barbican by at least a decade. It was built in the 1950s in an effort to rehouse the residents of the City of London, while renewing an area of the City which had been virtually destroyed during the Word War II Blitz. There were only 500 people living in the City of London by the time the war ended, with only 50 living in the Cripplegate area where the estate was built. The estate was commissioned and funded by the City of London, constructed in what was then the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, which is known as Islington today. The land and the estate were later transferred to the City of London. The first phase of the estate was completed in 1957.

The architect for the Golden Lane Estate was selected through a 1951 design competition, which was won by Geoffry Powell. Powell formed the Chamberlin, Powell and Bon architectural practice soon after winning the commission. All three of the architects who formed the practice were teaching at Kingston Polytechnic at the time; they had come to the agreement that if one of them won the competition, they would form a partnership with the other two in order to deliver the project. Chamberlin, Powell and Bon would later go on to design the Barbican Estate.

The complex was designed in a radical modernist style, strongly influenced by the works of Le Corbusier. It was designed to be a self-contained urban neighbourhood, and a model for both social housing and urban living. The design included panels in red, blue and yellow, in addition to unpainted concrete, in Brutalist fashion. The completion of the estate was lauded as a symbol of post-war recovery.

Today residents sometimes complain about the buildings being particularly cold, making them very expensive to heat. However, some see this a consequence of the fact that the Estate has more spacious rooms than normal council flats. As a whole, the estate is often recognised as a safe and pleasant place to live.

A new development has recently replaced a block of flats opposite Bernard Morgan House; the 10-storey high-rise has already been nicknamed ‘The Denizen.’ Residents were unhappy with the lack of affordable housing in the new block, which prompted a £4.5 million donation by developer Taylor Wimpey tol help to fund social rent flats on the Islington side of the estate. The recent opening of the Elizabeth line in nearby Farringdon Station, is likely to attract even more interest in the years to come. One change which may have been a result of this new infrastructure is the repurposing of the old Italia Conti School of performing arts into a refurbished contemporary office building.