A long cobbled square lined with gas lit masts, where The Spy Who Came in from the Cold built a full scale Checkpoint Charlie in 1964.
What Smithfield looks like
The square runs as a long paved rectangle between Bow Street and , its cobblestones relaid by hand during construction in 1999 and 2000. Twelve gas lit masts line the length of it, each about twenty six metres tall with a flame at the top, though the flames are rarely lit. The mast shades change colour for events.
The old complex faces the square along Bow Street, its brick chimney rising above a glassed observation deck near the top. Newer apartment blocks and hotels line the other sides in render and glass, four to six storeys, with pubs and cafes at ground level.
Almost no vehicle traffic crosses the square itself, and the sits partway along its east side. A horse fair still sets up on the cobbles twice a year.
Queen Street runs along the square's west side, narrower than the square itself and lined with lower terraced buildings. forms the north end, and North King Street continues past 's pub front and a row of other shopfronts.
Shot in Smithfield
For The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the production built a full scale replica of Checkpoint Charlie on the open ground outside what is now the Generator hostel. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor worked the Berlin Wall crossing scenes on the square in 1964.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1965
The open ground by the Generator hostel
Played Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, Germany, 1964
The replica checkpoint stood directly outside the current Generator hostel, next to the old Jameson Distillery and its chimney. The set was pulled down and sold to a local businessman soon after filming wrapped. Street View
More than forty Victorian era industrial buildings line cobblestone streets at the Distillery District, the same red brick and pedestrian layout as the square here. Both grew up around a nineteenth century drink distillery and kept their cobbles once the surrounding blocks turned to shops and apartments. The Toronto district runs for several blocks of narrow lanes rather than one open square, so a wide establishing shot gives it away. Framing on the distillery buildings alone holds the illusion. Try searching red brick distillery street now.
The four to eight storey brick mills lining Ancoats match the same industrial era as the distillery buildings here, red brick with plain rows of windows. A canal runs through Ancoats rather than an open square, so it favours a tighter frame on one building over a wide shot of the block. Ancoats streets are narrower and the mills taller, so keep the frame close on brick and window rows rather than the open ground. Try searching red brick mill building now.
