Index The Buildings Booth Survey 1933 sale The end! Layout The Local Area Workhouse Crime and Conspiracy Pavilion Theatre Wonderland Directory Whitechapel Walk Census areas

I know Blackwall Buildings was built around 1891. I understand it was demolished in 1969. Apparently there were a total of 156 apartments in the end. If you can help PLEASE contact me and I will work on this page with information I am given.

THE BOOTH 1898 SURVEY

Reproduced courtesy of the London School of Economics, Charles Booth Archive. For more information please click here.

In 1898-9 Charles Booth took a survey of the state of poverty throughout London. He walked the streets with police to accompany him and wrote notebooks as to what he found. The map of this survey is contained in the map section. However here is a transcript of the notebook taken when Booth walked around the area: I've attached a copy of the actual notebook to the right, but for ease of reading I've transcribed it below:

"North up Queen Ann St. 3 st. (3 storey), rough, children very ragged, some prostitutes. Bread and bits of raw meat in the roadway, windows broken & dirty; all english: one woman called out "let us be guv'nor dont pull the houses down & turn us out! On the West side not coloured in map is a small court: hot potato can standing idle, dark, narrow. D/blue N (North) up Thomas St. at the N.W. corner 10 men waiting for the Casual Ward to open. (It opens at 4, it was now 1.45PM).

	BLACK: Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal.
	DARK BLUE: Very poor, casual. Chronic want.
	LIGHT BLUE: Poor. 18s. to 21s. a week for a moderate family
	PURPLE: Mixed. Some comfortable others poor
	PINK: Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings.
	RED: Middle class. Well-to-do.
	YELLOW: Upper-middle and Upper classes. Wealthy.

"North end of Thomas St is a gate leading to private Rd. on the West side of which are 3 blocks of dwellings called Blackwall Blds belonging to Blackwall Railway. decent class. purple. at either end is a gateway which is shut at night. The furthest gate opens on to the stoneyard of the White Chapel Union."

The colours mentioned (dark blue and purple) relate to the class of the area. The full table makes interesting reading and is reproduced here

A combination of colours, such as dark blue or black, or pink and red, indicates that the street contains a fair proportion of each of the classes represented by the respective colours.

 

In an earlier volume he has 8 classes and this says a great deal about the mind-set of Booth

 

A	The lowest class which consists of some occasional labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals. Their life is the life of savages, with vicissitudes of extreme hardship and their only luxury is drink
B	Casual earnings, very poor. The labourers do not get as much as three days work a week, but it is doubtful if many could or would work full time for long together if they had the opportunity. Class B is not one in which men are born and live and die so much as a deposit of those who from mental, moral and physical reasons are incapable of better work
C	Intermittent earning. 18s to 21s per week for a moderate family. The victims of competition and on them falls with particular severity the weight of recurrent depressions of trade. Labourers, poorer artisans and street sellers. This irregularity of employment may show itself in the week or in the year: stevedores and waterside porters may secure only one of two days' work in a week, whereas labourers in the building trades may get only eight or nine months in a year.
D	Small regular earnings. poor, regular earnings. Factory, dock, and warehouse labourers, carmen, messengers and porters. Of the whole section none can be said to rise above poverty, nor are many to be classed as very poor. As a general rule they have a hard struggle to make ends meet, but they are, as a body, decent steady men, paying their way and bringing up their children respectably.
E	Regular standard earnings, 22s to 30s per week for regular work, fairly comfortable. As a rule the wives do not work, but the children do: the boys commonly following the father, the girls taking local trades or going out to service.
F	Higher class labour and the best paid of the artisans. Earnings exceed 30s per week. Foremen are included, city warehousemen of the better class and first hand lightermen; they are usually paid for responsibility and are men of good character and much intelligence.
G	Lower middle class. Shopkeepers and small employers, clerks and subordinate professional men. A hardworking sober, energetic class.
H	Upper middle class, servant keeping class.

So we now know Blackwall Buildings was "Mixed, some comfortable, others poor" and Booth says it was owned by the Blackwall Railway.

As for the actual builder, then all signs point to Mark Gentry from Castle Heddingham, He had a depot in Stratford and built many similar philanthropic flats. There is no first hand proof of this, but it is highly likely from the style of the Buildings.  (top)

THE 1933 SALE

I found another interesting piece of information; but this begs as many questions as it does answers. From the Times on the 14th and 22nd February 1933, there are classified adverts from Reynolds and Eason, Auctioneers and Surveyors. They sold the freehold of Blackwall Buildings, Fulbourne Street for £21,300. The seller is the London & North Eastern Railway. This actually makes sense as the Rail line by the flats is the Great Eastern Railway and in 1923 this section was taken over by the London & North Eastern. I get a suspicion from this that Booth may have been wrong and the buildings might have been owned by the Great Eastern Railway. I wonder who bought it? I am sure more will follow. The rent role for the flats is £3226. Allowing for 156 flats this gives a weekly rent in 1933 of 8 shillings per flat. The other buildings sold in the same sale by the London & North Eastern were the Great Eastern Buildings. I know a little more about these and so I can make an assumption; however it is only an assumption!

When the Great Eastern Railway Company began an enlargement of Liverpool Street Station in 1887, the number of persons displaced by the demolition of ninety-three houses in St. Botolph's Bishopsgate was estimated at 600 for whom the Company was required to provide alternative accommodation by the General Powers Act of the same year. There were 3 sets of Buildings built in 1888 to 1890 to compensate for these displaced people. One was Great Eastern Buildings (quoted from 'The estate of Sir Charles Wheler and the Wilkes family', Survey of London: volume 27: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town (1957), pp. 108-115. for full article click here); I think it is one possibility that Blackwall Buildings was another.

There is an alternative possibility and this has some advantages to it. In 1885 The London & Blackwall railway applied to Parliament to widen their track between Fenchurch Street and Stepney. This was granted. Most of the widening was on the North side of the viaduct, and even though Leman Street and Stepney stations were on the South side (slow line) they were redeveloped as a result of this widening. The Blackwall applied to Parliament again in 1888 and in 1891 to extend the time for the completion of the widening and this would put the time scale exactly to when Blackwall Buildings were built. If there were a substantial number of displaced people then the Blackwall Railway would have had to build philanthropic flats. Even if this is the case then there is a good likelihood that they would have been built by the Great Eastern. After all the Great Eastern leased the Blackwall Railway in 1866 for a total of 999 years and so were nominally in charge of them, Blackwall railway did very little building of their own and most was carried out by the Great Eastern. This theory would explain their name (Blackwall Buildings as opposed to Great Eastern Buildings) and also why Booth wrote that they were owned by the Blackwall Railway. So either way, if they were built because of the expansion of Liverpool Street or for the widening of the Blackwall Railway, they would have been built by the Great Eastern. Assuming this is right, then we know who built them (Great Eastern Railway), why and when. We also know London & North Eastern Railway owned them in 1933 and at that date they sold them. What we don't yet know is who owned them after that.

Tower Hamlet's rating rolls for 1935 has the owner listed as "Challoner's". It gives no more information than that. However there was a Challoner's (D.W. Hann & E.E. Valentine) house and estate agent listed in the 1937 Kelly's directory, 1 Challoner Street, West Kensington, London W14 and again in the 1934-6 directory, Challoner's (F.C. Muddiman). However they don't appear to be in existence today. I still am looking for possible other owners at other dates and also information as to rent etc.

I have a newspaper cutting from 1967 which gives an idea of the state of the blocks at the end:

East London tenants win battle of 'The Buildings'

"By B.P. PARSLEY (Chairman Blackwall Buildings Tenants Association)

"BLACKWALL BUILDINGS is a rotting slum tenement in the East London Borough of Tower Hamlets: It is owned by the Westminster Property and Investment Company.

"Out of 156 flats, there are very few that do not suffer from excessive dampness, dry rot, rotted window frames, bugs, black beetles silverfish, and cockroaches, broken windows, no sash cords, very uneven floorboards, broken skirting boards, plaster falling out of the walls, ceilings badly cracked, and falling down in places, bad wiring, no ventilation, warped doors, inadequate power points, very bad chimneys and fireplaces.
"There are 20 washhouses, which means one washhouse for four families, and as most of the tenants have children this is not at all healthy. Tenants have no alternative water supply in the winter when the pipes freeze up.
"There are two toilets between four families, and most of these either need new cisterns, or bowls, or chains. The landings are supplied with lights which are very rarely on, as no one of authority is sent to check and see if all the lights are on. Most of the landing ceilings are falling down, and rain pours through on to the landing and stairs, which make the stairs slippery and dangerous. The railings are broken on many of the roofs, and the roof doors bang most of the night as many of them cannot be locked.
"Rats are constantly seen in and around the buildings, especially in the washhouse. There is also a waste debris at the bottom of the flats that is riddled with rats. Tenants are afraid to leave their children outside for fear of rats.
"If there was a big fire in Blackwall Buildings you could say goodbye to the majority of the tenants as the gas main is near the chute, and the chute is wood, and all the railings are wood on the stairs, and the only way out is the roof.
"Many children have been in and out of hospital with bronchitis, and fevers, mostly caused by the excessive dampness, and filth. The grounds are swept, but never adequately kept clean, There is always broken glass on the landings, up the stairs, and in the courtyard. The only ground that the children can play in is also full of broken glass, and children are always being brought in severely cut. In fact one little boy will be scarred the rest of his life, because of this.
"In December last year the tenants association won its first battle when we took the landlords to the rent officer, who reduced the rent of each flat by approximately 15s 2d and ordered the landlords to carry out all external repairs to the buildings.
"Now after eight months fighting we have won the major battle. Tower Hamlets council has agreed that the buildings should be pulled down and has instructed the medical officer of health to draw up a detailed survey to show that the property is a slum."

After the flats were emptied for demolition I have heard they had squatters for a while. However in the end they were demolished. In 1983 the site was being used by the "Whitechapel Car and Commercial Auctions Ltd". Their address was "The Car Park, Fulbourne Street". There is no listing in the phone book for 1982 for this company, so it's thought they started in 1983.

Later (I don't know when) the plot was bought by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and now is leased to Tower Hamlets Community Housing and is used for community houses. (See the pictures page for current photos). (top)

THE LAYOUT

Most of the flats were 2 rooms. It would appear 4 of the blocks had one flat on each of its 4 floors with 3 rooms, making 16, 3 rooms flats in total. Just think of this and think of up to a dozen people living together in just those 2 rooms. I have heard they had 2 communal toilets on each landing and separate a washing room, which had 3 basins in it for washing. There was also a copper in the washroom which was heated by a wood fire to make hot water for washing clothes. I also have been told that the flats had a cast iron range in them which was the centre of activity. The living/dining room/kitchen was also sometimes a bedroom. It also contained a coal cupboard for the range. A room may well be divided by a curtain or a blanket to provide a little privacy between the different beds, mainly so the head of the house and his wife could get on with the business of creating more children to ultimately support the family.

I have been offered the layout below as typical of the flats. I have heard from Shirley Etchells that their Kitchen and living room (in 1960) contained a gas cooker, a small larder with a roll down door,  a Formica table, with fold away flaps. a small 3-piece suite, a tv and a coffee table. It had a fitted carpet. I guess it must have been quite a tight fit! In her mother's flat in 1944 there was a cast iron range which her mother kept black leaded. These had all been taken out by the time Shirley got married. The toilets were outside and at night you had to be careful of dossers sleeping in them. Each of the two toilets was used by two families and they were kept locked because of the dosser problem I've already mentioned.

Typical layout of property in the area c 1960 supplied by Michael Tyrrell. This is actually from Dunstans Buildings in Cable Street

I am pretty sure they were like this from when they were built. I know the flats had staircase access as opposed to balcony access. I have also heard that they were yellow brick buildings with a white glazed wall at one end. I am not sure why this would be so, other than an architectural feature. If they are the same as the nearby Great Eastern Buildings (which I think they were) then they "consist of long blocks, two rooms deep and four storeys high, (placed at a right angle to Quaker Street) with the fronts facing each other across an open-ended court. Each block is divided into three sections, with four tenements on each floor, and all the storeys were originally similar in arrangement. Every group of four tenements was allotted two water-closets and one scullery, leading off the staircase landing.
"The elevations are of yellow stocks with bands of red brick just above the sills of the windows, which have segmental arches of red brick. Giant pilasters, also of red brick, are placed at each end of the front and flank the tall openings that light and ventilate the three staircases." (From: 'The estate of Sir Charles Wheler and the Wilkes family', Survey of London: volume 27: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town Great Eastern Buildings (1957), pp. 108-115. for full text click here).

I have a block plan from Derek Gray that might be of interest:

I have heard that in 1917 they were Council flats. However from my research I think this to be extremely unlikely. It is not thought at any time they were owned by the Council. I would love any more information on the owners of the buildings, who were the landlords, what the rent was etc. All this will add to the picture if people can offer any help?

When they were built they would have been very light and airy. They were a great place to live and this style of model housing was known as "philanthropic housing". Much was built in the late Victorian era as a slum clearance plan. However not everyone was happy to go into them. They had gated access and the gates were locked at night. This was to reduce the time people had to go drinking and so reduce drunkenness. In Arthur Morrison's book "Child of the Jago"  written at the time, he gives mention to the new buildings and  says some people preferred to live in the old slums rather than go into the new housing. People liked the security of the slum; the ability to hide if chased by the police and the fact that the police wouldn't go in anyway! The new buildings were very different. (top)

THE AREA AROUND THE BUILDINGS

WHITECHAPEL WORKHOUSE

As you will see from the map and will also see below, Blackwall buildings were adjacent to the Whitechapel Workhouse. There is an amazing website which deals with this aspect of history and I will not delve into it here. if you would like to explore the story of workhouses then please refer to www.workhouses.org.uk.However I would like to put in one quote which gives an idea of life in the workhouse. This is from the workhouse site.

The Whitechapel Union is a model workhouse ; that is to say, it is the Poor Law incarnate in stone and brick. The men are not allowed to smoke in it, not even when they are in their dotage; the young women never taste tea, and the old ones may not indulge in a cup during the long afternoons, only at half-past six o'clock morning and night, when they receive a small hunch of bread with butter scraped over the surface, and a mug of that beverage which is so dear to their hearts as well as their stomachs. The young people never go out, never see a visitor, and the old ones only get one holiday in the month. Then the aged paupers may be seen skipping like lambkins outside the doors of the Bastile, while they jabber to their friends and relations. A little gruel morning and night, meat twice a week, that is the food of the grown-up people, seasoned with hard work and prison discipline. Doubtless this Bastile offers no premium to idle and improvident habits ; but what shall we say of the woman, or man, maimed by misfortune, who must come there or die in the street? Why should old people be punished for their existence ?

There is one interesting picture from that site relevant to us.

Vagrants or "Casuals" on Thomas Street 1902  courtesy of Peter Higginbotham / www.workhouses.org.uk.

This shows casuals waiting on Thomas Street, 1902. From Peter's site I quote "Vagrants or "casuals" were given overnight accommodation in return for a fixed amount of work the following morning. In later years, a two-night stay was required from casuals so that they could not leave without doing the required task of work, and so that they could make an early start after their second night to move on to another workhouse. The casual ward was fitted out with hooks and rails between which low hammocks were slung." The main workhouse next to the Buildings was taken over by the London County Council in the 1930s and became St Peter's Hospital. It closed in 1948 and was finally demolished in the 1960s and the site was used to build Lister House.

In the far distance is Kearley and Tonge's new warehouse.  You can see the building was covered in scaffolding, which suggests it was being built. Blackwall Buildings is behind us and to the right. You can see the position more clearly in the pictures of the Casuals ward after it became St Peter's Hospital which I have placed on the pictures page.  (top)

CRIME AND CONSPIRACY

We come to Bucks Row. This is immediately behind Whitechapel Station and runs into White's Row. You can see White's Row on the map below. It crosses Thomas Street. Anyway, Bucks Row was in 1888 the place where Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was murdered. She was the first of Jack the Ripper's victims. There are many websites devoted to Jack the Ripper. In fact when researching the streets around Thomas Street it was almost impossible to avoid this gruesome event!

Just outside the estate and in number 178 Vallance Road, lived the Kray brothers. They were born and bred in the East End, and lived here in Bethnal Green and spent their early years in the boxing ring. They had their own gang which caused mayhem and terrorised the neighbourhood and the twins eventually ended up in prison. They were convicted of the murder of George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel Road. As a small aside George and his wife Olive lived for a while in Blackwall Buildings! As an even bigger aside, in 1950 my father made the steel pub sign for the Blind Beggar. The pub was owned by Mann Crossman and Paulin (Albion Brewery, next to the pub). My father made the swinging steel sign frame. The actual painting of the sign was done by H S Herring (signwriters) of 22 Raven Row, Bishopsgate. It's a very small world and this is a strange connection between places. My grandfather lived in the Buildings as did George Cornell. The pub George died in had its sign made by my father. Odd !!!

Rather amazingly, in May 1907 the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held at the Jewish Social Club Hall in Fulbourne Street; which is not still standing. Among the delegates to this momentous meeting resulting in the Russian Revolution were Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Litvinoff and Gorky. During the fortnight of the conference Stalin (then called Djugashvili) and Litvinov slept in a hostel for down-and-outs in Fieldgate Street. The area at the turn of the century was a hotbed of Anarchist activity; old Lenin himself used to hold meetings behind Whitechapel station and Trotsky too in the Bakery on the corner of Court Street . (top)

Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel Road, 1938, picture above reproduced here courtesy of Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives

PAVILION THEATRE

However to balance the picture, out on the Whitechapel Road was the Pavilion Theatre. By 1892 this Theatre was known to have a capacity of 2,650 with 174 in the Stalls, 436 in the Pit, 417 in the Dress Circle, 690 in the Grand Circle, and 85 in the Boxes. At the theatre, they performed melodrama of a rough type, farce, pantomime, etc. The early decades of the 20th century were the heyday of Yiddish theatre in London, and the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel, on one of the main crossroads in the East End, became its main home.

One report I have read talks about the noise. Everyone in the audience was talking all the time. no one would take any notice of the numbered seats and this would lead to rows among the audience. These arguments would be going on all over the seating area. There was a large snack bar selling rolls, sandwiches and bagels filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese. The actors overacted like mad. This was really appreciated by the audience. People would mutter their approval or disapproval and the hub bub would be added to by people translating the show to their friends or explaining what was going on to those who hadn't understood it. The audience was reminded of their life in Eastern Europe and so nostalgia was one of the over-riding themes in the shows.

There is an interesting site with information on the Music Hall and this has a page on both the Pavilion Theatre and the East London Wonderland. Dedicated to the Music Hall "star" Arthur Lloyd, and created by Matthew Lloyd (great grandson of Arthur) it is well worth a look.  

EAST LONDON WONDERLAND

The East London Wonderland was on the opposite side of the road to the Pavilion Theatre and can best be summed up by an article from H. Chance-Newton on the East End Music Hall. It was written in 1902.

"To those amusement-seekers who may prefer to take their variety entertainment in a rough-and-ready form there are still such haunts as that Whitechapel resort fancifully named "Wonderland." In this big hall are provided entertainments of the most extraordinary description. They include little plays, songs, and sketches, given first in Yiddish dialect and afterwards translated into more or less choice English by, as a rule, a Hebraic interpreter. This interpreter often improves the occasion by calling the attention of kind - and mostly alien - friends in front to certain side shows consisting of all sorts of armless legless, skeleton, or spotted " freaks " scattered around the recesses of this great galleryless hall. When once the "freaks" have been examined, or the "greeners" and other foreign and East-End "sweated" Jew toilers have utilised the interval to indulge in a little light refreshment according to their respective tastes, the Yiddish sketches and songs - comic and otherwise - are resumed until closing time.
"It is, however, on its Boxing Nights (which in this connection means Mondays and Saturdays) that "Wonderland" is to be seen in its most thrilling form. Then it is indeed difficult either to get in or to get out. In the first place it is hard to get in because of the great crowds of hard-faring - often hard-faced - East-End worshippers of the fistic art; several types of which are to be seen in our photographic illustration on page 223. In the second place, if you do contrive to get in you speedily find yourself so hemmed in by a sardine-like packed mob that all egress seems hopeless."

For full article see this site on Victorian London - as with many I have found if you are interested in the subject it's
Dictionary of Victorian London Direct link to page (top)

POST OFFICE STREET DIRECTORY

Just for fun I have transcribed a little of the Post Office Street Directory for 1914. Here is Whitechapel Road and it gives a flavour of what was available then. I've put pubs in italics. I've also marked a few interesting places in bold

North Side (East End)			South Side (East End)
Cambridge Road and Mile End Road			240	Smith Thomas & Son	Varnish Maker
			238	James Crease & Son	Paint mas.
			236	London & South Western Bank Limited
345	Joseph Klein	Duke of Cambridge	234	Bertie Edward Wood	Public Ho. bkr
343	Frederick Harding	Eel Pie House	232	Simon Leverick	Tobacconist
339	Mays & Sons	Hosiers	230	Louis Witmond & Sons	Cigar Manufacturer
337	Charles Martin	Blind Beggar	228	George Kemsley	Confectioner
333	Mann Crossman Paulin	Brewers	218	James McMillan	Trunk Maker
329	Draper Wright & Co Ltd	Leather factors	216	Miss Ruby Gates	Milliner
327	Miss Catherine Geiger	Confectioner	214	John Abrahams	Earl of Warwick
325	The Jewish Times		Cannon Place
323	Arthur Lacy	Chemist	212	Frederick Stead	Hatter
321	Philip Actman	Tailor's Trimmings	210	Brunswick Hall, Primitive Methodist Church
319	Teetgen & Co Ltd	Tea Merchant	208	William Clifford	Bootmaker
Brady Street			Bedford Street
317	Adolf Reisner	Queens Head	206	Eastern District Post Office
315	Raingold Barnet & Sons	Hatter	196	Abraham Gold	Tobacconist
313	Henry Shaw & Co	Tobacconists	194	Thomas Moroney	Trouser Maker
311	Harry Brooks	Confectioner	192	Jews Synagogue
309	John Goldhill	Fruiterer	192	Mrs Sarah Lando	Corset Maker
307	William Wells	Laundry	190	Solomon Blumenfeld	Tailor
305	Robert Doran & Son	Bootmakers	188	Walter Gladding & Co	Builders
303	Aylesbury Dairy Co Ltd		186	Pulvermacher Bros	Hairdressers
299	Samuel Sandler	Ladies Taylor	184	Lipshutz Davis	Hat Manufacturer
293	Henry Cole	Pork Butcher	182	Jacob Lipschitz	Second Hand Bookseller
291	Mrs Ada Abrahams	Draper	176	Henry Patrick Trew	London Hospital Tavern
287	J Lyons & Co Ltd	Cafe	East Mount Street
285	Jack Cohen	Lord Rodney's Head	London   Hospital
283	Metropolitan Provident Medical Association
281	John Joseph	Picture Frame Maker
279	Primitive Methodist Medical Mission
279	Working Lads Institute
277	Whitechapel Road Station
275	Whitechapel Working Men's Temperance Club
275	Jacob Joseph Moss	Refreshment Rooms
269	Maurice Grave	Sugarman
265	Lockharts Ltd	Refreshment Rooms
Woods Buildings
261	Mrs Magdalen Hone	Pawnbroker
259	A & E Shepherd	China & Glass Dirs
257	George Lifton	Restaurant
255	Mrs Jane Freeman	Tobacconist
253	Farrow's Bank Ltd
251	Jack Karet	Ironmonger
243	McKay & Ryland	Linendrapers
241	Isaac Tanenbaum	Builder's Merchants
239	Home & Colonial Stores Ltd
237	Samuel Myer Kirstein	Printer
235	Charles Davis	Beer Retailer
Court Street
233	Albert Gordon	Star & Garter
227	Geo Hunter Ltd	Cheesemongers
223	Jays National Furnishing Co
Fulbourne Street			Turner Street
221	Abraham Gold	Tobacconist	174	Edward Q Ambrose	Physician & Surgeon
221A	Lewis Harris	Hatter	168	Norwich Union Life Insurance Society
219	Harry Edward Kemp	Grocer	168	Johnson Bros	Builders
217	Martin Horn	Old Red Lion	166	John Hyams	Ladies Tailor
215	Israel Rachovitch	Talking Machine Manufacturer	162	Mrs Josephina Grant	Florist
			158	Harry Edwin Swain	Loan Office
213	Peter Stalker	Dining Rooms	156	Isaac Palkin	Watchmaker
211	Harry Brown	Tailor	156	Leon Freeman	Electrical Engineer
209	Arthur Cole	House Furnisher	154	C T Brock "Crystal Palace"Fireworks Ltd
207	Stadt & Berg	Hosiers	152	Krohne & Sesemann	Surgical Instruments
205	Jacob Teff	Leather Seller	150	Pioneer Permanent Building Society
203	Phillip Warschawsky	Tailor	150	Harris Somper	Tailor
201	David Drage & Sons	House Furnishers	150	Joseph Edward Brown	Reg. of Births & Deaths
199	Mrs Mary Ellis	Black Bull	148	Lazarus Pearlman	Clothes Cleaner
197	Joseph Lechem	Artificial Teeth Manf.	148	William Bramham	Surveyor
197	Arthur Lacy	Chemist	148	William Frederick Laing	Auctioneer
			146	Hooberman, Cohen & Co	Produce Importers
			144	William Wells	Laundry
Vallance Road			New Road
195	Darsow Bros	Tobacconist	142	Nathan Phillips	Beer Retailer
195A	Abraham Schapiroff MD	Physician & Surgeon	140	Italo Ortalli	Eel Pie House
193C	Morris Shine	Tailor	138	Max Merten & Co	Provision Merchants
193B	Robinson & Co	Builders	136	Lazarus Levy & Co	Tobacconist
193A	Jacob Mehlberg	Who. confectioners	136	Polsky Bros	Photographers
193	Pavilion Theatre		134	Mrs Betsy Goodman	Dressmaker
191	Morris Rosenberg	Restaurant	134	Jacob Goodman	Picture Frame Maker
189	Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel		132	Arthur Brown Winckles	Corn Chandler
Pavilion Yard			130	Isaac Stern	Tailor
187	Fishmongers Trading Association Ltd		130	Ray Hyams & Son	Hairdressers
187	Ezekiel Goldman	Debt Collector	128	Harry Steinwolf	Restaurant
187	George Thurnell	Solicitors	124	Max Kanal	Ladies Underclothing Manf
185	Albert Bruce Doig	Baker	122	Abraham Dannieloff	Tailor
183	Reuben Alexander	Tobacconist	120	Davis Levy	Royal Oak
181	Joshua Abrahams	Duke's Head	Vine Court
179	Whitechapel Foundation School		112	H Karet & Sons	Wholesale Ironmongers
177	Victoria Homes		110	George Pott	Coffee Rooms
175	LCC Public Health - Children's Care Work		108	James Jennings	Builders
171	William Beale & Co	Leather Merchant	106	Hyman Schneider	Ladies Tailor
169	Jack Lewis & Co	Bootmaker	106	A Mordecai & Sons	Cigar Manufacturer
167	London & Provincial Bank Ltd		104	Etty Levi	Piece Broker
165	Morris Podguszer	Artificial Flower Maker	102	Fusco & Sons	Dining Rooms
163	Hyman Galinsky & Co	Linoleum man.	St Mary's Railway Station
161	Harry Freedman	Blouse Manufacturer	Hampshire Court
159	Elman Bros & Co Ltd	Pianoforte dealers	100	East London Wonderland
157	Abr Pincus Goldenfeld	Wholesale Hosier	94	Frederick Napper & Sons	Leather Merchants
155	London Society for Promoting Christianity among Jews		92	Nathan Margolis	Ironmongers
153	Samuel Oldschool & Co	Leather Merchants	90	Morris Schwarz	Woolen Merchant
151	American Shoe Store		82	Barbican Mission to the Jews
St Mary's Street			80	Farmville Tobacco Co Ltd
149	Mrs Rebecca Craig	Milliner	78	Israel Shelley	Woolen Merchant
147	Morris Herman	Draper	Great Tongue Yard
145	Herman Raivid	Photographer	76	Louis Weinberg	Confectioner
143	David Seftohovitz	Linen Draper	74	Samuel Johnson & Co	Boot Closed Upper Manf.
141	H Mazin & Co Ltd	Hewbrew Bookseller	72	Isadore Hartfeld	Tobacconist
139	Max Joseph Horowitz	Jeweller	70	Solomon Goldstein	Cycle Dealer
135	Marshall B Kellor & Son	Linen Draper	68	Israel Phillips	Hairdresser
133	Mrs Ann Schafer	Blue Anchor	64	Sigmund Furer	Tailor
131	Solomon Isaacovitch	Restaurant	62	Commonwealth Optical Co
129	Mrs Sophia Klyder	Earthenware Dealer	56	Mrs Helena Pinsker	Ladies Underclothing Manf
127	Joseph Cipra Cohen	Hosier	54	Mendel Freedman	Physician & Surgeon
125	Harris Brodtman	Watch importer & Manf,	Little Tongue Yard
125	Morris Brodtman & Son	Passenger Agent	52	Wolff Levy	Bootmaker
123	Mrs Sophia Klyder	Earthenware Dealer	50	Robinson & Ensum	Harness Manufacturer
121	Myer Rubenstein	Confectioner	48	East London Observer
119	Miss Eliz. Filschstein	Corset Maker	46	William George Ayres	Coffee Rooms
117	Lewinstein & Son	Printers	44	James John Roberts	Engraver
115	Simon Gidalovitch	Fruiterer	42	Mrs Hannah Jones	Chandlers
109	Philip Bacal	Who. Hoosier	40	Mrs Sarah Halliday	Musical Instruments
105	Aaron Barnett	Electrical Engineer	38	Abe`William Shapiro	Restaurant
103	Joseph Leton & Co	Watchmaker	36	Davis Hafkin	Watchmaker
103	Marks Duke & Co	Ladies Underclothing manf	36	Max Harkavv	Engraver
97	John Levy	Dolphin	36	Joseph Sakelovitch	Tobacconist
Great Garden Street			Fieldgate Street
Items below here are selected interesting items only - not a complete list
81	Joseph Weinberg	Artificial Teeth Manf	32	Mears & Stainbank (Whitechapel Bell Foundry)	Bell Founders
69	Boots Cash Chemist		20	Salvation Army Headquarters
27	C Solomons	Cinematograph Theatre	16	Thomas Noakes & Sons	Bronze Founders
9	Perfect Mantle Co Ltd	Incandescent Fittings Man	10	George Alfred Lansdown	Printer
1	Post Office		2	Buck & Hickman Ltd	Saw & Tool Maker
North Side (West End)			South Side (West End)

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WHITECHAPEL WALK

For an amazing walk today around the area, and a humorous, yet real look at the state of Whitechapel then and now have a look at www.walkspitalfields.comAlan Gilbey has described the area very well and incorporates a lot of what I have said above. Enjoy!

So this gives you an idea of the area. I am still looking for specific information on Blackwall Buildings and hope the "taster" I have posted will encourage you to share any memories or stories you know or have found out.

CENSUS ENUMERATION DISTRICTS

Finally here are the census enumeration sheets from 1891 and 1901 showing the area. It includes the nearby streets and shows you the area the Buildings were in. (top)

Please  

Guy

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