Sepia-tinted real photo postcard of the lake at Finsbury Park. Ink: The Lake Finsbury Pk [address in Birmingham supplied]. Finsbury Park was originally proposed as Albert Park, the third of three new royal parks to be created in London (Battersea and Victoria were the other two); when the plans to make it a royal park were abandoned, it was developed as a municipal park under the name Finsbury Park. It was designed by Alexander McKenzie and opened in 1869; it was restored with aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2003