Andrew Whitehead The Roundhouse and Di Clay - Credit: Andrew Whitehead/Di Clay It was built as an engine shed - later became a liquor warehouse - and bounced back from dereliction to become the epitome of London cool. The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm has had a much livelier history that most railway buildings, and more than 170 years on it's still going strong. The Roundhouse dates from the 1840s, when rail lines started carving their way across north London. It was a hugely impressive piece of architecture incorporating a locomotive turntable which gave the building its shape and name. But within little more than a decade, the engines became too big for the turntable. By the end of the 1860s, Gilbey's was using the place to store its gin.