Riverside, north bank, east of the Tower.
Poplar and Canary Wharf
Post to the west LimehouseAmoy Place
This was previously Church Row
Stepney Laundry. This was owned by motor racing enthusiast, A.W.Smith
Aspen Way
Poplar Link. Aspen Way was originally built by the LDDC in 1985 and extended to meet the Blackwall and Limehouse links in 1989. It varies from a four to six lane road. The road was built on the sites of a series of defunct rail lines serving the West India and Millwall docks and associated areas. These railways appear to have run through an area of open land, possibly belonging to the dock company.
London and Blackwall Railway. Their West India Dock Station opened in 1840 on what was a cable hauled railway from the east of the City. It was sited roughly where the West Ferry DLR station is today and the line continued on a route roughly followed by the DLR to a station nearer the East India Docks and called Poplar it then continued to a terminus at Blackwall. It was later extended, including through Millwall Junction to the tip of the Isle of Dogs.
East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway which was later known as the North London Railway. This ran initially from Gas Factory Junction to stations to the north but in 1851 a junction for coal and later all freight was made to West India Docks with a coal depot at Poplar and a spur to the Blackwall Line. The line from Bow to Poplar docks closed in 1983 and is now part of the DLR.
Midland Railway Coal Depot. This lay to the east of West India Docks Station. It had track at both street and viaduct level. These Midland sidings were built as part of their Poplar Docks scheme and had no direct connection with the West India Dock itself. There was a wagon lift on the down sidings to give access to ground level since the sidings were lower than the London and Blackwall Viaducts. Horses were used for shunting in the lower yard. The depot opened in 1882. The site appears now to be that of the Docklands Light Railway Depot.
Bank Signal Box. This box was built for the Midland Railway coal sidings.
North London Railway Yard. Tracks ran from the Midland Depot to Harrow Lane. Dated from 1866 and was meant to be used to transfer traffic between the North London and the London and Blackwall Railways.
Footbridge. This ran from Millwall Junction Station down platform running across Harrow Lane marshalling yard to Harrow Lane. It then extended south from the station into the docks
Millwall Extension Railway. In 1863, the London and Blackwall Railway Company proposed a line across the Isle of Dogs. There was a great deal of argument with the dock companies over the route but a Bill was passed in 1865 with a complex ownership profile. It was operated by the Great Eastern Railway and was initially horse drawn. The branch was laid with rails opening in 1871 and Millwall eventually it was owned by the Port of London Authority Junction was built. Passenger services ended in 1916 and the line south of Millwall Junction was closed in 1970. Some of the line is used by the DLR
Millwall Junction Station. This opened in 1871 with the first section of the North Greenwich branch line to Millwall Dock. It was extended to North Greenwich the following year. The station had two platforms on the Blackwall Line with a triangular section and a single platform for the North Greenwich branch. The only access was a covered footbridge to the down platform which went across Harrow Lane marshalling yard to Harrow Lane. The footbridge also extended south from the station into the docks for use by workers at the docks. The station was rebuilt in 1888 and closed in 1926 but remained open for freight until 1927. Connections into the docks remained in use until the early 1960's. Part of the sidings to the north of the station were in use until 1981 and the remaining tracks were removed in 1983. The station buildings were demolished in 1965 but the platforms were only finally removed during the construction of the Docklands Light Railway
Locomotive depot at Millwall Junction. This opened in 1871 and was at the west end south of the line. It was opened by the Great Northern Railway and became a locomotive shed under the Great Eastern Railway. It closed in 1926 and became a goods shed. It has since been demolished.
Harrow Lane Junction. This allowed a connection to the Great Eastern Railway.
West India Docks Signal Box. This was at the end of the North Greenwich platform at Millwall Junction Station. Demolished in the 1970s
Bank Street
Bank Street runs along what was the north side of the South Dock which was built out of the quayside according to the Cesar Pelli Associates’ masterplan. It is lined by offices built 2000-3. The quay walls were landscaped and obelisk shaped lanterns installed. In the first stage of development the whole quayside was designated as Heron Quays and a further five stages of that development were planned. However Canary Wharf bought the site from Tarmac and built the current grandiose towers.
South West Dock Quay. Before redevelopment under the LDDC quayside buildings were used for dock purposes and latterly called ‘Heron Quays’. In the 1840s there was a herring shed on the site. There had been a proposed rationalisation of South Dock shed in 1911 but during the Great War was needed for sugar imports so two sheds were built here, and in 1919 another added, for wool. The quay was narrow and little used. The Brymon Dash 7 was landed here in 1982 as a demonstration to prove that London City Airport was a possibility and that it would only use light planes.
F shed made of corrugated-iron on a steel frame with internal rail lines. It survived into the early 1980s. It was used by the Westcott and Lawrence Ships for export to the Middle East.
G shed. This was made of corrugated-iron on a steel frame with internal rail lines. G rebuilt following bomb damage in the Second World War and tall doorways for mobile cranes were introduced. It survived into the early 1980s. It was used by the Ellerman Line and City Line for South African imports of canned fruit, wool, hides, copper, wines, and spirits.
H shed. It was made of corrugated-iron on a steel frame with internal rail lines. From 1929 used for exports and was in fact used by the PLA for a pilot scheme for mechanising export handling. It was rebuilt following bomb damage in the Second World War and tall doorways for mobile cranes were introduced. It survived into the early 1980s and was a mechanized export-loading berth for Harrison Line and Union Castle to South African ports.
20 14 floor block by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
25 33 floor tower by Cesar Pelli Assocs. At the top are 5,472 controllable LED lights. This was the headquarters of Lehman Brothers until their collapse causing the 2008 Financial Crisis.
40 32 floor tower designed by Cesar Pelli & Assocs. It is linked to neighbours by the Winter Gardens.
43 East Wintergarden. Architects Cesar Pelli & Assocs. This is an entertainment venue
50 the shortest of three towers and twin of 40. Steel framed by Cesar Pelli & Associates. Tenanted by Northern Trust
Testa Addormentata. A large bronze head depicted swathed in bandages by sculptor, Igor Mitoraj. This is on the corner with Upper Bank Street.
Birchfield Street
Birchfield Estate. This is in surrounding roads to the east. Built by the London County Council's Architect's Department, 1955-64.
3 this building was a laundry, built in 1910. Said to be Chinese. This may relate to the Stepney Laundry adjacent to the rear in Amoy Place. It is now housing
9 Workshops – at one time a clothing workshop for the House of Sears.
Cabot Square
The heart of the earliest Canary Wharf developments in 1988-91 and with Canadian/US street names, It is high quality with formal green spaces and public art. There are no views out across the docks or river
Central garden. Like a London square it is an island and not a garden. There are lie walks, a central fountain, yew hedges and steps between pavilions to the car parks
Circular glass funnels for car park vents. By Jeff Bell
Fountain. A rhythmical play of jets by Richard Chaix.
Bronze planters by Philip Jackson.
Couple on Seat. By Lynn Chadwick 1984
Plaque by Gerald Laing. This was installed in 1998 to note Michael von Clemm, a financier, who was one of the originators of the Canary Wharf development.
1-5 by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners for Credit Suisse First Boston. It had 21 floors.
10 designed by SOA in the Chicago tradition but said to be infused the spirit f traditional London buildings. Ground-floor shopping arcades said to be inspired by Piccadilly. Sculpture at the entrance “Returning to Embrace Bronze” by Jon Buck. 2000
20 by Kohn Pedersen Fox, with EPR Partnership evoking the commercial styles of 1920s-1930s US. This is a single group along the Export Dock but cut in two by DLR.
25 HQ of Morgan Stanley by SOM (Chicago) and in the Chicago tradition.
Cabot Hall. On the east side was a banqueting and performance hall which opened in 1991. Closed in 2006 and converted into retail and restaurants.
Castor Lane
Poplar DLR Station. The station is built on an earth filled structure. Opened in 1987 this is the junction station between Docklands Light Railway lines. Originally the station had two platforms, and only handled the Stratford to Island Gardens branch traffic. It has since been expanded and remodelled when the Beckton extension was opened in 1994. Originally all Beckton trains started and terminated here. In 1995 the line was extended west, joining Poplar to Westferry via a flying junction to allow Beckton services to run to Tower Gateway. In 2005 Bank to King George V services were added.
Operations and Maintenance Centre to the north of the line, probably on the site of the Midland Railway coal depot. This was originally designated at the Headquarters building with training, maintenance and other functions. Although it has been superseded by a depot at Beckton half of the fleet is still maintained here, including some ex-steelworks diesel engines.
Byron Bawn & Company's Byron Tank Works. Wrought-iron tanks and cisterns were made here until c1940. Cleared for housing.
Canada Square
The square was to be called Docklands Square, but during planning it was renamed Winston Square and the Canada Square. This was originally landscaped by Olin & Partners. A path meanders through woodland with seating and art works.
1 The Pelli Tower. This is the showpiece of Phase 1 of Canary Wharf and the hub of the whole development. It is the simplest form possible, square and pyramid topped and sheer, and clad in stainless steel to reflect Britain's heritage as an industrial nation. In 1991 it was the highest in Britain although the height was restricted because of the closeness to London City Airport. The pyramid roof encloses a maintenance plant, facilities for water supply, and an aircraft warning beacon. The building has a steel pendulum that sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts of wind. The ground floor forms a grand public thoroughfare with eight marble-faced banks of lifts. Stained glass was designed by Charles Rennie, to represent Canary Wharf, Water and Boats and the slate used is made from the Welsh slate shelving used original Banana Warehouse here. The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened it in 1991 and unveiled a commemorative plaque at the entrance. Plaques, by Keith Millow and ceramics by Lawson Oyekon, 1998.
1 Cabot Place. The anchor of a ground floor to Pelli's tower. It executed by Pelli with Adamson Associates and Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners. There is polished luxury in the foyer at the base of the tower. Inside are three levels of shopping mall by Building Design Partnership
Cabot Place East. This has above ground shopping and restaurants on three levels which link to shopping malls below Jubilee Park.
The Big Blue. Sculpture by Ron Arad of a blue saucer in fibreglass at an angle over a Perspex collar so that it appears to float. 1998. It was as the skylight of the shopping mall below.
It Takes Two. Bronze statue by Bob Allen. 2002.
'History Wall' by Thomas Heatherwick Studio, 2002, ac composition of 3,743 archive images, arranged to provide a HSBC logo.
5 block by SOM, with three big trading floors, 2000-3. Occupied by the Bank of America, Merrill Lynch
8 HSBC world headquarters. This is a 44 storey building of 1999-2002 by Foster & Partners who were also architects of the Bank's 1980s offices in Hong Kong. It is the third-tallest building in the United Kingdom.
Lions. There are of two guarding the entrance to the HSBC building. An inscription says that these exact copies of two made for the Hong Kong offices of the bank. The sculptor was W.W. Wagstaff in 1935
25 and 33 Citigroup Centre. 25 is a tower by Cesar Pelli & Associates, with Adamson Associates, 2000-2. It is the third-tallest building in the United Kingdom. The western part of Citigroup is by Foster & Partners 1998-2000. In the atrium is artwork by Alexander Beleschenko.
Lines. These are on the floor at the lowest level of the shopping area. They are intended to convey the idea of flowing water. They were designed by Antoni Malinowski.
Canary Wharf
This development takes its name from a fruit warehouse. Canary Wharf. The warehouse was built in 1937 and used in 1952 for the Canary Islands and Mediterranean fruit trade of a company called 'Fruit Lines Ltd'. This was
part of the Fred Olsen Group and the wharf was named Canary Wharf at their request. However their operations were moved to the Millwall dock in 1970. The warehouse was later converted into a TV studio.Limehouse Studios was an independently owned television studio complex built in Warehouse 10 (30 Shed) which had been a rum and banana warehouse on the South Quay Import Dock. It This opened in 1982 at the eastern end of what is now Canary Wharf. The building was designed by Terry Farrell and consisted of two studios built in suspended concrete boxes mounted on independent giant springs to reduce external vibration. The studio had been set up by executives from Southern Television and was used by many compamies some making programmes for Channel4. In 1988, the building was sold to Olympia and York and was demolished in 1989. The Olympia and Wharf development of the Pelli Tower and its surroundings was meant to provide office space as a satellite of the City. It is almost entirely an American import the result of the Enterprise Zone. The original plans of 1984 taken up and developed in a grandiose fashion by G.Ware Travelstead who could not finance it. He sold the plans in 1987 to Olympia & York who went into administration in 1992. Work continued after a guarantee that the Jubilee Line would be extended here. The result is a self-sufficient scheme that looks inward onto itself.
Cannon Drive
Cannon Work Shops. This is a quadrangle entered through a large triumphal arch of Portland stone. This was to provide stores, workshops and cooperage in 1824-5 designed by Rennie. It is now, small business units by Charles Lawrence and David Wrightson, 1980-1. In the centre is the old carpenters' shop.
Cannon – a 19th cannon after which the buildings are called
Cast-iron benchmark for the docks inscribed TRINITY H.W. 1800. It represents the mean high-water level of spring tides: the ground level is lower.
Forge. The building was rectangular built of London stock brick to a design which echoed that of the adjacent block which were been designed by John Rennie in 1824 and built in 1825. Demolished.
Cartier Circle
This area at the eastern end of Canary Wharf has been landscaped entrance into a green space to attract birds and insects and forms part of a ‘spine’ of green spaces running through Canary Wharf. The focal point is 17 sculptured bronze posts to catch the daylight and change with the weather. Evergreen oak trees form an enclosure on the outside
Churchill Place
Barclays, by HOK, 2001-3. This is a 33 storey glass tower which was redesigned after September 11th in the US to provide extra security and resistance to chemical attack. It also has a roof friendly to wildlife with grass and plants to encourage bird life
City Canal
The City Canal across the Isle of Dogs was built for the City of London Corporation and Designed as a short cut to save time on the long tidal haul around the Isle of Dogs to and from the Pool. It was part of the price paid for the City Corporations co-sponsorship of the West India Dock plans. In 1799 Jessop was appointed as engineer with Walker as resident engineer, but Walker departed in 1802. Banks 12 feet high had to be built, because the high tide level was above that of the surrounding land, and the land also had to be raised to the same height. The canal was completed in 1805 with at its western end the Breach Dockyard, a mast and timber laying dock formed around a large linear pond. About 19,000 vessels passed in the first three years when it was free of tolls, but traffic fell off sharply when charges were introduced. In 1829, the West India Dock Company bought the canal from the Corporation. In 1866 the canal was enlarged by engineer Sir John Hawkshaw and the complex was renamed the South West India Dock later known as South Dock. In 1926 it was decided that this should be connected to the West India and Millwall Docks.
Columbus Courtyard
Courtyard has diamond patterned granite paving using Rosa Porrino, Giallo Veneziano and Zimbabwe Black.
17 part of a complex of buildings occupied by CSFB. It is connects to 20 via a full-height internal link and to 1 Cabot Square.
Piazza designed by Igor Mitoraj as a formal setting for his sculpture Centurione. This is a neoclassical bronze mask.
Cut-steel fence. This is by Wendy Ramshaw on the theme of sea navigation and has a jewelled eye in the centre. It marks the border and is there to warn pedestrians.
Fountain. Designed by Richard Chaix
Crossrail Place
The Everyman Canary Wharf opened in 2015 with three screens. It is on Level 2 of the as yet unopened in Crossrail Railway Station
Cubitt Steps
Two Men on a Bench. Sculptor: Giles Penny.
Dolphin Lane
Said to once have been a main route from Poplar into the Isle of Dogs. Before being cut off by the building of the West India Docks it is thought to have followed on to Harrow Lane and ultimately the Greenwich Ferry.
East India Dock Road
This square covers the south side only.
The road was built in 1806-12 as a route to the East India Docks by the Dock Company and as an extension to Commercial Road. It was soon to become the main highway connecting Commercial Road to the docks and continuing to Canning Town. It ran mainly through field and market gardens, but was to be lined with grand houses and shops, some of which still exist.
52 this was built for the London and County Bank – later the National Westminster Bank - in 1885 by Zephaniah King. It included a flat for the manager. It replaced Canton House, home of a mast maker.
54 Langley House. Langley was a shipowner who owned land here. Langley House later in 1903 became a receiving home for around a hundred orphan children destined for the Poplar Labour Colony near Laindon.
56 Presbyterian Settlement. This settlement was for ten workers for the Presbyterian Church of England. It has been founded in 1899.
56 The Urban Learning Foundation was an educational outreach charity started in 1973 as a joint venture between the College of St Mark and St John, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The building of 1992 consists of a courtyard of flats and teaching rooms by Paid Hyett. It became part of the University of Gloucestershire in 2003 offering teacher training. It closed in 2009 and was sold to LHA London Ltd. Who offer student accommodation.
58 University of Cumbria. This is the teacher training department of this Carlisle based university.
Corsefield House. This includes a mural and a decorative panel.
68 Ernest Perett. Manufacturer of Excelsior flags and banners.
6-64 Poplar Labour Exchange. This was apparently opened here in 1922.
100 National Refuge for Destitute Children. Shipping depot. This was a 19th charity based in Bloomsbury. It is also listed as being concerned with the Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa Training Ship.
102 Poplar Liberal and Radical Association. Present here in the 1920s.
104 Phoenix. This was a beer house in the 1850s but may be earlier. It has now been demolished.
150 Manor Arms. This was a beer house in 1868 but rebuilt in 1925 by the architect for Mann, Crossman and Paulin.
Manor House. This was on the site of Malam Gardens. It was not the original manor house which was to the west and this was in fact two houses probably built for the Wade family, who had owned the older Manor House. In 1932 it was bought by the Commercial Gas Company and demolished.
154 Anglican Mission to Seamen by Sir Arthur Blomfield in 1892-4. It was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1893. Later, in the 1930s, the Mission moved to the Royal Docks. Ancillary buildings and a church continue in Hale Street
154. Commercial Gas Company. The Mission buildings became the Commercial Gas Company's Co-partnership Institute.
154 Pope John House. The institute was Bought by the Roman Catholic parish of St. Mary and St. Joseph and converted into a club and social centre in 1967. Sold to a developer in the 1990s
Recreation Ground. Poplar Board of Works bought the site of the East India Company almshouses from the Secretary of State for India. Most of it opened as a recreation ground in 1867. Its extent gives some idea of the prominence of the East India Company's property in the area. A floral clock is planted out with over 4,000 bulbs every spring since 1957. The original gate piers survive. In 1898 tennis courts were added and a bandstand by Macfarlanes of Glasgow. Near the Memorial by the entrance from East India Dock Road is a formal planted area with a railed central circular bed surrounded by wooden seats in a paved area (some York stone/some brick/some paving slabs) with raised beds forming the outer circle. The ground extends through to Poplar High Street and includes St. Matthias Church. (See also Poplar High Street)
Angel Memorial. This is in the recreation ground and is a memorial to 18 5 year old children killed in a First World War Air Raid when a German aircraft bombed Upper North Street London County Council School on 13th June 1918. The Plinth is crowned with an angel and signed A H Adams, a local undertaker.
Poplar Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. This church was on the corner of Woodstock Terrace for a congregation which had had a chapel in Hale Street. . It was built in 1847 by James Wilson of Bath. The foundation stone was laid by ship owner George Green. In 1866 classrooms and a lecture hall were added. It was damaged in the Second World War and closed in 1976. The site is now housing named for William Lax.
United Methodist Free Church. This was on the corner with Bath Street. This was built in 1866 with George Green laying the foundation stone. It was on the site of a previous church. In 1919 it was taken over by the Poplar Methodist mission further down the street and was where Revd Lax of Poplar worked.
King George’s Hall was a conversion of the Free Church as a club recreation room, concert hall and Sunday School. The church was damaged by bombing and the site became part of the fire station.
St. George’s Picture Hall. This was the Poplar Methodist Mission converted in 1925. It closed in 1930, as the cost of fitting sound equipment was prohibitive. It re-opened in 1936, with a Mihaly sound system installed and it continued, with free admission in 1939. At the outbreak of World War II it was closed compulsory and never re-opened as a cinema.
Fire station. This replaced stations in Brunswick Road and Burdett Road. It was built by the Greater London Council in 1967. It was designed by their department of Architecture and Civic Design and opened in 1970. It can handle eight vehicles plus a control room, offices, and a lecture room as well as mess and recreation rooms. There are ten fireman’s flats and a drill tower.
Poplar Baths. Built in 1856 this was one of the first public baths and washhouses. It was replaced by new baths and a swimming pool in 1933, and finally closed in 1987. It was designed by Harley Heckford, Poplar Borough Engineer and Surveyor. Its grey-brick front looks like a cinema or factory. It had two swimming pools, slipper baths, and areas which could e floored over as a theatre, dance hall or for boxing. The office was used by the Borough Electricity Officer, and later by the Poplar Labour Party and the Transport and General Workers Union. The main bath hall was bombed in the Second World War. In 1985 three murals were done by David Bratby about the history of the baths. It became a training centre in 1988.
Richard Green Statue. This is by Edward Wyon and is outside the baths. It was erected in 1866. Green is seated on a chair covered with sailcloth with his dog, Hector. He was shipbuilder George Green’s son. On the plinth are reliefs of the Yard and a Green-built ship. The statue has a break in the arm where a child wedged its head under the arm in the 1940s and had to be cut out by the fire service.
All Saints Station. This was opened in 1987 and lies between Poplar and Langdon Park on the Docklands Light Railway. The station is partly on the site of Poplar (East India Road), station on the North London Railway. All Saints Station is named from All Saints Church slightly to the east.
Poplar (East India Road) Station. This station opened in 1866 and built by the North London Railway. It was used as the terminus for 4 passenger trains an hour from Broad Street when it was opened because the Blackwall Railway would not let the North London Railway run passenger trains here for free. In the 1870s and 1890s some eservices ran to connect to steamers to Margate. It had a single-storey booking hall on the main road, and two stairways leading to the platforms. It closed in 1944 because of bomb damage – it held the record as the most bombed railway station in the world. In 1947 it was demolished although the platforms and some brick walls remained.
Goods depot. This was at the rear of the station and leased to the London North Western Railway.
Signal boxes. There was one at the north end of the North London line station called East India Dock Road, and one to the south called High Street. Both were abolished in 1888, and replaced by a new box called Poplar Central which was south of the platforms. This was totally destroyed when a land-mine exploded on top of one of the railway retaining walls. In less than two weeks, it was rebuilt
Wall - Adjoining the west side of the present entrance to All Saints Station is a low wall, built of stock brick and stone, which is the sole surviving remnant of the old Poplar station frontage, most of which was demolished in 1947
Fishermans Walk
This runs along the south quay of the north dock at the western end. The south quay was used for the import of rum and mahogany.
Rum Quay Shed. This ran the length of the quay for gauging. Demolished
Rum Field Sheds. Built in 1803 by John Rennie with patent wrought iron roofs which proved unstable and had to be replaced. Burnt down in 1937 and replaced by the Canary Wharf Fruit Warehouse. Demolished in 1986
Rennie Mahogany Sheds. These were by John Rennie 1817. Demolished
25-27 Cat and Canary. Pub on the corner at Wren's Landing. The pub sign is one of a series of four paintings hanging outside the pub. It shows a cat in a padlocked birdcage with a canary perched on top with the key in its beak
Art Deco lampsOriginal Form. This is a sculpture of twisted wooden planks of Douglas Fir by Keith Rand, 1999.
Garford Street
Created in 1807 just after the docks and is a demonstration of the importance of dock security. It is named after John Garford who had a wharf here in early 19th. The St. Vincent estate 1949–50 is built on what was the west end
1-7 Mitcheson's Anchor Works was there 1835-1860s the family having originated in Durham. It was later the London Rice & Corn Mills Company and then from 1901 wastepaper dealers, William Turner & Company, and then Alfred Barber & Company, sack manufacturers. It was destroyed in 1940’s bombing.
St Mary's Garford Street, Church of England School. This was here 1868–1884.
Lion Works. In 1896–7 James Walker & Company, steam packing makers until 1926. Site cleared for housing in 1938–9. The company opened branches internationally and moved to Woking in the 1920s, where it continues as a multinational.
73 a brick facade is the remains of a brass foundry and warehouse built 1846–7 for Thomas Aston, James Griffiths & Company. In the 1880s this was Dixon & Corbitt & R. S. Newall & Company, wire, rope and lightning-conductor manufacturers
73A Garford Works. Houchin Ltd, electrical and mechanical engineers, from 1927. And rebuilt in 1946, designated Garford Works
London Paint Works. This was behind no.75. Workshops, stores and an office were erected around a yard. And later became a furniture manufacturer. Burnt out in 1986 and demolished in 1989
2–6 George Daniel Davis & Company, from 1882 'manufacturers of patent improved steam and hand steering apparatus, also windlass and capstan makers'. In the 1930s the premises became the Barget Cabinet Works furniture factory but were bombed and the site cleared. Barget Ltd rebuilt in 1953–4 as the Garford Furniture Works, becoming a garage in the 1970s,
St Peter's Church. This was built to designs by Ewan Christian in 1882–4. It succeeded a St Mary's Mission nearby in the street. From 1912 services were held for Scandinavian seamen from the adjacent Scandinavian Sailors' Home, in their own languages. The church was declared redundant in 1971 and demolished in 1974.
Mary Jones House. This is on the site of St Peter's church and provides social housing for the single. Designed by Christopher Beaver Associates in 1981
10-18 Cottages built by the West India Dock Company for dock constables designed by John Rennie. The larger one in the middle was for the sergeant, and two pairs on the outside for other ranks. . The Dock Police Force was formed in 1802. The Port of London Authority sold the houses to Squire & Lodge of Blackheath in 1972.
20 Riverside House. Originally built in 1887-8, by Richard Harris Hill, very plain and was the Scandinavian Sailors' Temperance Home In 1875 Agnes Hedenstrom, from the Swedish Free Church, came here to work among seafarers and in 1888, opened the Home. Now occupied by the Salvation Army. Greig House. Built as the Scandinavian officers' annexe in red-brick with a copper-clad clock tower. This was built in 1902-3 by Niven & Wigglesworth but is now occupied by the Salvation Army as a hostel for homeless men. A plaque says that the first Salvation Army Hostel was opened here in 1888. Bronzes of sailing craft bronzes on the building. Transfer to the Salvation Army was negotiated in 1929. The buildings were altered Alexander Gordon and reopened as the East London Hostel for homeless men in 1930. Following alterations in 1974 alcoholics were housed there. A fire in 1981 led to an extensive programme of improvements by David Blackwell, Salvation Army Staff Architect, and was completed in 1983
Premier Place. Chassay Architects, 1995-8, speculative flats
Hale Street
Church which was part of the Anglican Mission. It was built in 1898 to Blomfield’s designs. When this was taken over by the Commercial Gas Company it was converted into a gym
Chaplains House. For the Anglican Mission church
Trinity Cottage. This was on the corner of Shirbutt Street and used by the Anglican Mission as a centre for lady workers. It was probably rebuilt in 1934.
Mosque Sharhjahal Masjid. This has been located in a Tower Hamlets portacabin but they have planning consent for a permanent
building.
Lansbury Mural. Originally painted by Mark Frances, it has panels telling the story of the Rates Rebellion. It shows George Lansbury and local residents with 'Can't Pay Won't Pay' placards, which refer to the anti-Poll Tax campaign which was extant when the mural was completed in the 1990s. Names of the imprisoned Councillors, are listed on the bottom. It was restored in 2007 by David Bratby and Maureen Delenian with local children.
Harrow Lane.
Before the Docks were built this was Arrow Lane or Kings Road leading from Poplar High Street to the Greenwich Ferry. It was cut by the City Canal and then by the West India Dock.
Trains exchanged between North London Railway and Port London Authority systems. Remains of footbridge to Millwall Junction Station demolished in 1985
Wall. The only evidence of Millwall Junction Station is a section of brick wall which is clearly newer than and which was the entrance to the station
Heron Quays
Heron Quays. This was an 8 acre site owned by Tarmac but since enlarged. It dates from the early days of the LDDC and was built by Nicholas Lacey, Jobst & Hyett, in 1981-9. It us a mixed development of deep-red and purple units composed like a waterside village round courts and projecting over the dock wall. More was planned but Canary Wharf went ahead
3 The Heron Pub. Closed and now offices
Spirit of Enterprise. A sculpture which rises from the water, in steel by Wendy Taylor. Interlinked shapes based on the outline of the Isle of Dogs.
Heron Quays Road
Canary Wharf Jubilee Line Station. This was opened on 1999 and lies between Canada Water and North Greenwich on the Jubilee Line. It was designed by Lionel Foster & Partners and is sited sunk in part of the former Export Dock and covered by Jubilee Park which is where the above ground entrances are in oval glass bubbles. Below ground is a steel and concrete box. The main reason for the station's great size was the number of passengers predicted which have already been exceeded. Both station platforms are equipped with platform edge doors. It is possible here to reverse trains from both the east and the west and a scissors crossover west of the station allows trains from Stanmore to enter either the east- or west-bound platform at the station, and trains from Stratford enter the normal westbound platform and can use this scissors crossover to reverse back towards Stratford.
Heron Quays Station. Docklands Light Railway Station. This was built on the original line of the Docklands Light Railway in 1987 and paid for by the developer with a design seen as a model for others. It serves the southern part of Canary Wharf being connected to the Jubilee Place underground shopping centre. The original station remodeled by Will Alsop in 2003. The line is covered by a concrete hall, covered in hanging metal scales which muffle the train noise.
Hertsmere Road
Hertsmere Road runs to the north of what were warehouses on the north quay of the West India Dock on the site of what were rail lines servicing the warehouse. It then makes a right angled turn to go south down the west side of dock warehouses
Dock fortifications. A ditch originally ran down the whole length of the north quay – which is the line of Hertsmere Road. The ditch was 7 ft deep - and 21 ft wide. On the inside of it was a dwarf wall topped by a railing. This ditch was originally crossed by swing bridges, which were left open at night as an extra precaution. They were later replaced by fixed bridges.
No. 1 Dock Gate. This was the main entrance to the West India Docks and was the scene of the daily 'call-on'. The wall is 1802 and the surviving two gate piers renewed in 1984. They date from 1809 when a brick bridge over the ditch replaced a timber drawbridge. The centre pier was removed in 1905 but had been the plinth for the statue of Robert Milligan, now outside the museum.). These Gates stood in front of the sugar warehouses, controlling the entrance into the docks.
1 Dockmaster's House. Built in 1807, ooriginally opposite the customs office, it first used as excise office by Thomas Morris, the resident engineer to the West India Dock Company. Then it was as an inn called the Jamaica Tavern at which time ornamental surrounds to the window and the balustrade by the roof were added. Later it was the Dock Manager's office. It was used as a Police station in the 1960s. There is a PLA crest on the front of the building. Now an Indian restaurant
.
Garden Wall - The dock had a Ditch and outer wall for fortifications built in 1802. The garden boundary of the house is the Outer Dock Wall in a restored section. It was mainly dismantled in 1928-9. The boundary ditch, which was covered over in 1892, is represented by the drop to the garden.
Notices on the wall claiming "Ancient Lights"– this was an old legal device to protect daylight in buildings.
The Customs Office. This was opposite the Dockmaster's House but was bought by the London and Blackwall railway in 1846 and partly demolished. In 1883 it was purchased by the Midland Railway Company for sidings and a coal depot. The building had various tenants until 1902–3, when it was occupied by the National Sailors', Firemen's, Cooks' and Stewards' Union which later became the National Union of Seamen and named Maritime Hall. It became a Chinese restaurant in 1943, and the PLA bought it in 1958 and it was demolished in 1959.
Cannon House. This has a PLA Plaque on the centre front. The building was previously the police Station of the Dock Police. Built 1914 by C.R.S. Kirkpatrick, Chief Engineer
Works Yard – this is now represented by an open space.
Guard House. This is a small, circular, domed building 1804-5 by the Gwilts. There were originally two of these - this one was an armory for the Military Guard and the dock's own regiment; the other one, demolished 1922-3, was a lock-up. One was also used as a magazine for gunpowder. They flanked the main gateway through the inner wall which was dismantled in 1932.
Main gateway. This was called the Hibbert Gate and a replica of it stands on the west quay behind Hertsmere House. It was removed in 1932 in order to widen the entrance. (See below
)
2 Hertsmere House. This building is not used by Barclays Bank Building. It was built as a speculation by the Hertsmere Group but sold before it was finished. It was designed by Newman Levinson & Partners in 1987-8. It was early used as a business centre with occupation by FIMBRA the then Government financial regulator. Decorative plaque with the figure of a hart.
Antwerp Quay. This is said to be the name of the west Quay of the West India Import Dock the site of the London shed 13 used by the General Steam Navigation Company. It is now the site of Hertsmere House
Archimedes. 1997 by William Pye. This was an arts installation for the dock area here. It was subsequently removed and sold.
22 Marriott Hotel. This is in the 32 storey residential Tower by HOK which is 1 West India Quay
West India Quay Station. Built in 1987 this is situated at the point where the line from Lewisham splits into branches to Tower Gateway/Bank and Stratford and thus lies between both Poplar and West Ferry and Canary Wharf Stations on the Docklands Light Railway. The station was rebuilt in 2009.
Hibbert Gate. This modern replica of the original entrance gate stands on the west quay behind Hertsmere House. On top of the original archway was a 10ft Coade stone sculpture of the 'Hibbert' a vessel engaged in the West India trade, and named after the chairman of the West India Dock Company. This became the emblem of the West India Docks and part of the coat of arms of Poplar Borough Council. When the arch was demolished the model ship was taken to Poplar recreation ground. After the Second World War an attempt was made to move it to Poplar Library, but it model crumbled and had to be scrapped. The model on the replica gate is by Leo Stevenson and based on the original.
Cinema. This was opened by Union General Cinematographique as the UGC West India Quay in 2000. It was re-branded Cineworld in 2005.
Ledger Building. This is now a Wetherspoon’s pub. It was designed in 1803 by George Gwilt as the dock office remodelled as a ledger office by Sir John Rennie in 1827 and used as a general office until the closure of the docks. A new entrance was added in the 2000. It has an annexe probably built as a Fire station, which later became the gatekeeper’s office, remodelled 1812 as a police office
.
Commemorative Stone plaque. This is on the side Wall of Lloyds No. 1 Bar and Ledger Building. It was installed to mark the start of work on the West India Dock. It measures 18 feet by 12 feet and is larger than some buildings.
Jubilee Place and Gardens
Underground shopping mall. This is under South Canary Wharf designed by Building Design Partnership, on two levels with underground links to each of the towers. Inset into the floors are square pictorial mosaics depicting dock life and trades - Beaver skins, Carpets, Coffee chocolate & tea, Feathers, Ropes, Sea shells, Snake skins, Textiles, Tomatoes, Tortoise Shell and Wines & Spirits. Designer and Maker: Emma Biggs.
Jubilee Park. This is a roof garden built above an underground railway station designed by Belgian father and son Jacques and Peter Wirtz. It was built on the enlarged site of a previous park, and the new scheme was designed to reduce the dominance of the east-west axis. The central feature is a municipal looking raised serpentine water channel with rough stone walls and other walls are planted with tall grass species and over 200 Metasequoia trees in irrigated containers. The grass mounding is good for sunbathers and a welcome contrast with Gotham City. There are twenty-two interconnecting pools and fountains and a 'forest'. There are curves in the humps of the lawns, in the swathes of clipped hedging and in the rough Belgian blue limestone that encases the water feature.
Giant Knitting Nancy. The design is inspired by the Knitting Nancy, a knitting toy scaled-up so that visitors can participate in the knitting.
King Street
This is now Ming Street
Limehouse Basin
This was a small basin within the West India Dock complex, and had no connection with the Regent’s Canal Dock to the west, which is now called Limehouse Basin. It was a two-acre basin at the west end of the West India Docks which took lighters and ships passing between the docks and quays. It was built in 1801-03. Consideration was given to enlarging it but it was never done and after the Limehouse entrance lock closed in 1894 it was used very little. It was in filled in 1927–8. West India Avenue appears to be roughly on the site today.
Limehouse Link
The portals to the tunnel were designed by Rooney O'Carroll with Anthony Meats and house services.
Sculpture on the North Quay Portal in Aspen Way, an untitled abstract of interlinked Cur-Ten steel bars by Nigel Hall.
On Strange and Distant Islands. East Service Building above the Limehouse Link road tunnel. This is made of geometric monoliths Kilkenny limestone and designed by Michael Kenny.
Mackenzie Walk
22-28 Henry Addington Pub.
Malam Gardens
Houses. These were built on the site of buildings called the Manor House (see East India Dock Road) after the Gas Company bought the estate in 1932. They were designed by Victor Wilkins and were supposed to be called Manor Cottages. With agreement of the London Count Council they were named for John Malam an early gas light activist. It consists of three rows of cottages along three private roads. Originally they were completely gas-powered lighting, heating and everything. The gas street lights are said to survive in working order.
Ming Street
Once called 'King Street' and, before that, 'Back Lane'.
Poplar Gas Works. This was a speculative gas works built in order to pass on to a management body. The site has since been covered by road widening. It was built by members of the Barlow family and in 1824 17 people living in Robin Hood Lane signed a petition urging Poplar Vestry to buy gas for street lighting and so the Barlows were ready with a gas works for them. The works was adjacent to the West India Dock wall and the Dock Company frightened of fire, insisted on a certain gas holder design. It was run by a committee of unnamed proprietors under the direction of - 'William Smith, Clerk'. In 1846 they lost the parish lighting contract and the works closed in 1852 having been taken over by the Commercial Gas Co. The site became Poplar Iron Works.
12-13 This was a ship chandler's workshop, which became a cinema, the Ideal Picture Palace in 191. The architects were Andrews & Peascod, and it was a single-storey hall. It was closed after bomb damage in 1940 and in the 1950s was used as a garage.
The Danish Lutheran Church. This was built in 1877 in King Street was mainly attended by Danish sailors and their families, and was associated with the Marlborough House Chapel at St James's Palace. In front of the altar hung a model ship made by an old captain in Denmark and in the church were the wooden figures for the Mission Church in Wellclose Square by Cibber in 1656/7. It was demolished in the 1970s.
Montgomery Square
Planted with elm trees, which opens the view across the water to Greenwich. It is flanked by two office blocks on opposite sides and the Canary Wharf Underground Station exit is here. It is a flat space, using paving pattern and texture to create interest .Vertical elements within the space are provided by light columns and trees.
Centauro Sculpture by Igor Mitoraj. It shows the mythological beast partially incomplete but ready for battle
Nash Place
Steps descend from Canada Square to South Canary Wharf.
North Colonnade
25 by Troughton McAslan with Adamson Associates, 1998. This was the first building on the Canary Wharf estate by a British firm. It is occupied by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Panels – these mask the underside of the DLR track as it passes over the North Colonnade and are by Martin Richman.
Park Place
1 built 1985-7 By Stanley Trevor for City accountants, Littlejohn Frazer
Pennyfields
The end of the old route from Limehouse via Poplar to Blackwall was disrupted in 1802 when the Commercial Road (aka West India Dock Road) was cut through.
Maisonettes designed by Stewart, Hendry & Smith for the Greater London Council in 1963-6.
1 Commercial Tavern. Long closed and demolished
17 Rose and Crown Pub. Watney's house which had been on site since 1869. This is now a noodle bar
65 Silver Lion Pub. This was here 1856 or earlier. It survived at least into the 1960s, but is now demolished.
Poplar High Street
From the DLR station a path leads to the High Street now a backwater, entirely detached in spirit from its backdrop of sleek, gigantic commercial towers. The change in level is clearly visible up to the High Street on its gravel terrace.
7 The Prince Alfred Pub. This has now been demolished.
9-11 White Horse Pub. This pub was established in 1690 and was the most westerly of the 25 pubs which formerly lined Poplar High Street but the final building dated from 1927-8 by E.A. Sewell, with a nostalgic faience comer panel. In the early 1740s the landlord was James Howes who ran the pub with Mrs. Howes but they were actually both women. The pub was rebuilt in 1935. Here was a plaque of a white horse on the exterior and the statue of the white horse, still stands outside. The pub was acquired by Truman’s Brewery in 1921 and remained in their ownership until its closure and demolition in 2003.
Will Crooks Estate. These are standard London County Council blocks 1934-7. Dolphin House flats and Willis House flats escaped the blitz
30 National School. A school building was erected by public subscription on the westernmost part of the workhouse site in 1806 for the United Charity School of Poplar and St Anne Limehouse. The building was later used by the Poplar and Blackwall National School
72 The Green Man Pub. A Green Man is recorded in Poplar High Street in 1650, although on a slightly different site. It was a weather-boarded building and a Taylor Walker house. It was rebuilt in 1904 and in 1939, again on a slightly different site. In 1985 it was renamed Carty’s. It closed and was demolished in 2003.
Poplar Workhouse. In 1735, the Poplar parish overseers opened a workhouse in three houses on the north side of Poplar High Street but moved in 1757 to the south side. Two new buildings were erected in 1815-17 by James Walker as architect - there was an entrance block with the Master's quarters, a town hall for the Trustees, and an eastern wing with the wards; and a workshop block to the west. In 1834 it was take over by the newly set up Union and a separate children's accommodation, a male infirm ward, and a casual ward with an adjoining stone-breaking yard were added. In the 1850s it was rebuilt to designs by John Morris & Son, bur keeping the 1817 High Street block. The new buildings, also included wards for lunatics and a there was a chapel. From 1871, the Local Government Board used the workhouse for an experiment to admit only able-bodied paupers subjected to a 'labour test'— performing hard manual labour with strict discipline and the most basic diet. The scheme proved strong deterrent to able-bodied applicants. By 1873, the Medical Officer was complaining of the numbers of inmates who were not able-bodied. The aged and infirm went to the Stepney workhouse at Bromley. The 'Poplar Experiment' continued until 1882 and extensions were made to the building. In 1892 Will Crooks and George Lansbury Were elected to the board. Within became Chairman and the Board which began to operate an open-handed policy of outdoor relief and a number of reforms such as abolishing the workhouse uniform, improving the food, and allowing tea and tobacco to the aged were implemented. After 1913 the workhouse became known as Poplar Institution, and was controlled by London County Council from 1930. There was considerable damage during the Blitz of 1940 and the buildings were eventually demolished in 1960
Workhouse Leisure Centre. This was fitted onto an awkward site by the footpath. A monopitch-roofed leisure centre with timber-boarded wall is by Proctor Matthews, 1999. Courtyard with tiled wall of children's artwork. It is built on the site of the workhouse after which it is named.
95 Queens Head Pub. This pub was built around 1807 and demolished in the mid 1930s.
100 Augustus William Kennard. Cork works. He was a cork cutter with a mainly export business, also based in Houndsditch.
108 Spotted Dog pub. Also called the Talbot and used for a while as the workhouse.
Recreation Ground. (See East India Dock Road). Poplar Recreation Ground was laid out on the former burial ground and almshouses of the East India Company by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and opened in 1867. A bowling green was added in 1910 and a putting green in 1954. Memorial to 18 children killed (see East India Dock Road). There are various areas of ornamental planting, lawns and perimeter shrubs with good variety of plants, and numerous mature trees throughout, largely plane.
The East India Company's Hospital or Almshouses were established here in 1628 to provide for disabled seamen of the Company. The almshouse was founded to provide for disabled East India Company seamen. The money was found from the will of Hugh Greete, a fraudulent jeweller. In 1627 a house in Poplar High Street, was purchased and a committee was set up. The first two pensioners were admitted to the almshouse on March 1628. The chapel and the almshouse remained Poplar's main centres of worship, education and charity for many years. The chapel within the almshouse became the school in 1657 and in 1732 converted into rooms for pensioners. The Almshouses were rebuilt in 1798-1806 as separate groups of buildings north and south of a rectilinear open space and 12 two-storey houses were known as the Upper Buildings. But the old almshouse had become unfashionable and in 1801–2 it was demolished and new houses were built on the same site, the Lower Buildings - 26 houses. In 1805 both sets were enlarged. After the demise of the East India Company in 1858 the Government kept the buildings going as the Poplar Marine Hospital until 1866, when the East India Company land, was sold to the Poplar District Board of Works. The almshouses were demolished by early 1867
St Matthais. This is the 17th chapel that served the East India Company's workers. Its exterior was clad in the 19th with Kentish Rag by William Teulon, after it became the Parish Church. It was originally built to replace a chapel of 1654 and was funded from bequests by local residents. This chapel had been laid out in 1639 by John Tanner but not built until after the Civil War. Teulon’s 19th look is only superficial and his cladding encloses a red brick building, and the only interregnum church still standing in London. It has an early example of a continental type of kingpost roof which maybe by Inigo Jones. In the vault are the plaster arms of the East India Company. There are many monuments with East India Company connections. It was closed in 1976 and subsequently became derelict but was eventually restored with LDDC funding in 1990-1 by Peter Codling and Roger Taigel. It is now a community centre
Churchyard. There are 18th and early 19th tomb chests to naval captains, some with designs of their trophies and triumphs. There are also distillers and contractors.
The gate piers. These are shared with the former Board of Works Offices adjacent
112-114 Tower Hamlets College. These building include the old public library and London County Council School of Marine Engineering which Joined with the Edward VII Navigation School of the British Sailors Society. The buildings date from 2004 by Gibberd Ltd and end in a corner tower with a tapered glazed area. The main building which faces the High Street was built as the School of Marine Engineering and Navigation by the LCC Architect's Department in 1902-6. The main doors are carved with cherubs and sea-creatures by Bertram Pegram. It was extended twice and had an extension by John R. Harris Partners, opened 1991. In 1895 local residents lobbied the London County Council for a permanent centre for technical lectures. Under Sidney Webb the Technical Education Board in 1901 acquired the site and the building went ahead with many special features. The flat part of the roof served for taking astronomical observations by ship's instruments. There is a trussed timber roof in the Mates' Lecture Room. The college is now longer teaching only technological subjects and no longer concerned with marine engineering and navigation.
111 Poplar Play Nursery, a monopitch-roofed building, extended by Proctor Matthews Architects, 1992-3.
115 Meridian House. This was the chaplain's house which is all that remains of the East India Company Almshouses. It originated as a house remodelled by Edward Carter in 1627 and 1798-9 and rebuilt in 1801-2 for Henry Holland, Company Surveyor. In 1868 it became the vicarage of St.Matthias. There is a Tudor well in the grounds and then house has a pediment with the arms of the East India Company
Poplar Town Hall. Used as a Local Housing Office but originally Poplar District Board of Works. It was built as the outcome of a much-criticised competition, resolved in a design by Hills & Fletcher. It was built in 1869-70 with a board room and offices and was later used by Poplar Borough Council until 1938 when the Town Hall on Bow Road was built. . In 1985-6 the exterior was restored as part of the reuse of the building which was also subdivided.
125 East India Arms PubJohn Stock's Academy also called Poplar College. It had a garden and lawn, with pool and three acres of land adjoining. A boarding and day school for young gentlemen, founded by John Stock, it flourished in the 1800s and closed 1852/3.
126 Poplar Central Library. The library was built 1893-4 by John Clarkson District Surveyor. The building was severely damaged in the Second World War, and in 1957 was taken over by the present Tower Hamlets College. It is now the Poplar Centre for Further Education.
127 Coroner's Court and Mortuary. Built 1910-11 by the London County Council Architect's Department. Courtroom with mortuary behind,
130 Vietnamese Pastoral Home. This was originally built as the youth club of the Roman Catholic settlement in 1955-6 by Adrian Gilbert Scott. It was previously used by the Holy Child Settlement which moved here in 1919. That building was destroyed in the blitz and the current building erected subsequently. Many Vietnamese were working and studying in this country in 1975 and then came the boat people. The Vietnamese Catholics started to build up their community. With the growth of the Vietnamese Catholic Community, the Church gave them a centre in Poplar
134 Base for the Charity Organisation Society working with the Poplar Union (i.e. the workhouse) 1920s
143 The Blakeneys Head Pub. Now demolished and replaced by housing.
148 Edwin Pope. Master cork cutter. 1920a
151 The Eagle Pub. This had been established by 1794, although it was probably older as parts of the building dated from 1535. In 1815, a brew house was established at the rear of the pub which became the Eagle Brewery and the Eagle was the brewery tap. The pub survived until 1932 when it was converted to flats by the Bethnal Green & East London Housing Association. It was demolished 1971.
151a Eagle Brewery. In 1815, a brew house was established at the rear of the Eagle pub which developed as the Eagle Brewery, under the ownership of James West & Co. It was remodelled for Harvey Greenfield in 1894. It closed in 1908, with the premises becoming a mineral water factory.
163 Bethel Baptist Chapel. This was built in 1795 and in 1884 it was a member of the Metropolitan Strict Baptist Association, said then to be founded in 1855. A new schoolroom was opened in 1873 but the chapel closed in 1908. The building was later used as a cinema then for industrial purposes, and was demolished in 1956.
163 The Star Picture Palace was opened in 1912, operated by British Improved Bioscope Company Ltd. In 1916, it was converted into a factory for a tube manufacturer.
163 Incledon. This South African based company began in England in 1906 when Herbert Incledon who saw a market for the supply of pipes, fittings and valves to the mining industry of the Witwatersrand. In England they had branches in Bankside and Kingsway but moved to Durban in the 1930s.
209 Red Lion Pub. Closed and demolished. Until 1832 this was until a timber-framed building. It had been a pub with this name since 1745. It has been used as the pars workhouse. It was rebuilt as a pub in 1832 and a skittle alley installed. From about 1844 until 1913 it was called the Old Commodore with a music licence and in 1891 became a London and Burton Brewery house. The pub was demolished to build Commodore House in 1934–5.
Commodore House, replacing the pub and unfit housing to its rear. They were early buildings to have metal windows, as part of the borough’s then modern image.
Constant House. Built by Poplar Borough Council 1936-8 by Rees J. Williams, Borough Architect. The impression of individual flats is removed by streamlining the balconies.
210 Resolute Tavern. The earliest evidence for a pub on the site dates to .1706 and the property was known as the Harrow Tavern until the 1850s. It is now closed and demolished
213 Poplar Working Men’s Club building. This is now an Office on the corner with Poplar High Street. It once accommodated the North London Railway’s Harrow Lane Goods Superintendent. It has been suggested that this was part of the original 1851 structure nearby but it was not erected until the mid-1870s. It was at once time a working men’s club and has since been restored
Poplar Station Site. This ephemeral station was built by George Myers in 1851. How long it remained standing is uncertain, but it thought to have lasted into the 1860s at least. It was supplanted by the station in East India Dock Road opened in 1866.
Riverside
The Breach Dockyard, 1707–1818. The southern area of the Breach of 1660 was used for storing timber until 1707 when John Winter leased part of the site. He set up a shipbuilding yard here but was bankrupted. Building work continued and John DeGreaves occupied the yard until 1715. There were two dry docks, as well as building slips and warehouses and a three-storey house. The yard passed through a number of hands until 1753 when it was sold to John Smart a maltster who built a distillery and two windmills near the river. In 1774 James Menetone, used the site as a as a dockyard and it was later operated by his son-in-law Almon Hill with Robert Mellish, and they built warships and East Indiamen. The Breach was partially reclaimed for the west end of the City Canal in 1802–5. South of the lock it was developed as the Canal Iron Works in 1807–9
Limehouse Lower Entrance. This was the original entrance to the City Canal built in 1805 by William Jessop. This - the South Dock west entrance lock - is the only survivor of the whole group although it has not been used for shipping since 1891. Since 1929 it has provided an inlet for water to an impounding station that maintains the water level in the West India and Millwall Docks. The west entrance lock to the City Canal was built in 1803–5. The lock was originally and remains, large enough for the biggest ships on the river in 1805. The upper 12ft of the lock chamber walls are ashlar faced re-coped in granite. There are tide markers in Roman numerals, outside which are chain-tunnels. Next south wing wall there are stone river stairs, probably built in 1809. In 1856 the inner gates gave way and the South Dock suddenly emptied, scattering shipping. The dock company considered rebuilding the lock in 1877-82, but did not do so and it remained open until 1891. he lock was permanently closed in 1926–8 when Charles Brand & Son built a concrete dam, 15ft thick, between the gates, containing three pump-discharge pipes and two sluicing-culverts. The outer gates were removed and the lock has been a vital water inlet since then. In 1989–90 it was repaired and stabilized by the LDDC, including a permanent concrete floor and a dam between the wing walls.
Charles Price and Co.. In 1805 Sir Charles Price's company established an oil works south of the Canal Iron Works. There they crushed rapeseed and linseed, for production and storage of tar, oils, turpentine and varnish. An old windmill on the site became an oil refining house. Later the works onto the riverside area of Joad and Curling's rope-ground. The works closed in 1872 the works closed; the site was acquired by J. T. Morton. Prices later had storage at Regent Wharf but the main works moved to Erith
Morton’s Bonded and Sufferance Wharf. C & E. Morton preserved products. This had begun in Aberdeen in 1849 and expanded their wharf north on to the site of the Canal works. Around 1883 the riverside site was cleared including the Canal Iron Works site and the premises were rebuilt. This included rebuilding the river wall and the inclusion of a barge-bed. Best known for jam, the factory also produced jelly, caramel, chocolate, custard, marsh mallow, liquorice and fondants, as well as Seidlitz powder, magnesia and Epsom salts. In 1945 they were taken over by the Beecham Group and Millwall works were run down. Waterways Ltd, wharfingers, used the buildings after the Second World War.
Canal Iron Works. This is shown on maps of 1819 immediately south of the City Canal western entrance and in 1851 it is shown as a ‘steam engine factory’. Before 1809 Coulson & Co had built an iron foundry here called the Canal Iron Works. Rolling mills, worked by two steam-engines and other buildings were erected. On an adjacent site were a smithy and a shipbreaker's yard. The original brick river wall of 1807, survives here. John Seaward took the Canal Iron Works for the manufacture of marine steam-engines around 1809. They introduced the direct-acting paddle-engine. They fitted warships, Thames steamers, and made swing-bridges and cranes. They were taken over in 1860 by William Jackson and Richard Watkins and Marine engines were made here until 1882
Cascades, by CZWG for Kentish Homes, 1985-8. A narrow twenty-storey slab with a cascade of terraces and conservatories, bisected by a glazed slope of fire escape that gives the block its name. It had detail alluding to marine design: portholes; steel balconies intended to be like those on a lighthouse; ship-like funnels for flues, and the like.
Rosefield Gardens
Thornfield House. Built by the London County Council 1960-2. Eleven stories with an abstract concrete relief running up the full height.
Saltwell Street
Once called North Street and a major through route. This section is now called Saltwell Street.
Simpson’s Road
Goodwill House. Built in 1932 by the Presbyterian Housing Scheme.
Goodspeed House. Built 1926-9 and like many contemporary London County Council housing schemes. Part of a group of flats here with uplifting names built by the Presbyterian Housing Scheme. They were designed by T. Phillips Figgis, the scheme's surveyor and architectural adviser to the Presbyterian Church in England.
Winant House. Built in 1951 as an outlier to the LCC's Lansbury estate which opened in 1948 as the Festival of Britain Live Architecture Exhibition. It was designed by Harry Moncrieff and Edna M.I. Mills of Co-Operative Planning Ltd. and American-financed
South Colonnade
Canary Wharf Docklands Light Railway Station. Built in 1987 it lies between West India Quays and Heron Quays on the Docklands Light Railway original line. When the railway opened in 1987 the station was not ready and it was clear rat the Canary Wharf development would produce demand above the capacity of the small station planned. A contract was thus awarded to Mowlem Railway Group to rebuild a very much larger station. It finally opened in 1991. There is a red- painted steel and glass canopy with parabolic arches above by Pelli.
South West India Dock
This square takes in only the northern part of the dock and also does not take in the eastern end
The South West India Dock. This was created in 1829 from the City Canal and widened in the period 1866-70. In 1829, the West India Dock Company bought the canal from the Corporation to use mainly for unloading timber. It was enlarged in 1870. It was lengthened in 1902 and rebuilt in the 1920s, when the dock was also linked by new cuts to the Import Export and Millwall Docks. This dock has been substantially altered under the Canary Wharf redevelopment. The area now known as West Dock where the Heron Quays development was built projecting over the water area. It is then divided by a foot bridge from what is now called the South Dock where developments from the Canary Wharf estate are built over the north quay of the dock. They apparently sit on special piles which are separate from and do not damage the dock edges. The effect is to minimize the area of the dock and reduce it into a series of water courtyards
Foot bridge. Cable stayed bridge by Chris Wilkinson and Jan Brobrowski 1994 and designed as a swing bridge.
F and G sheds were on the north quay and handled incoming general cargoes.
H shed was on the north quay and was an export berth. It was chosen for the pilot experiment in the mechanization of exports in the Port of London, because the height of the shed was suitable for the mechanical appliances, rather than mobile cranes and fork lift trucks.
Stoneyard Lane
The name presumably relates to the workhouse stone breaking yard. This was a prefab estate in the Second World War and has since been developed by the London Docklands Development Corporation.
Trafalgar Way
Road into the Canary Wharf estate
Billingsgate Market. This was set up with the involvement of Port of London Properties to move the fish market from the City of London to a site more easily accessible by road to customers. It is on the site of 36 shed Shed E, completed 1917, closed 1971 north quay and was opened 1982. It was built by by Newman Levinson & Partners, but is a conversion of one of the concrete-framed transit sheds built on the Hennebique system by the PLA in 1912. The City of London Corporation owns and manages Billingsgate Market. The market has a larger variety of fish and shellfish choice on sale, over 150 species, than anywhere else in the UK. It trades Tuesday to Saturday from 4am and is primarily a wholesale market serving trade customers
London Fish Merchants Association. This dates from 1880 representing the merchants' interests, operating the Cold Store and the Ice Making facilities, organizing all the transport into Billingsgate and unloading and checking all fish deliveries
Billingsgate Seafood Training School. This was established in 2000. Supported by the merchants at Billingsgate, The City of London Corporation and The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers’. It is located at the Market and can provide tailor made classroom based courses and demonstrations in fish recognition, knife skills, presentation, cooking and nutrition.
Upper Bank Street
10 Clifford Chance by Kohn Pedersen Fox with Adamson Associates. Thirty two storeys high with a ten-storey pedestal block
Beach One of two sculptural benches in this area
DLR Bridge Control Room This is by Alsop and Lyall and is primarily an engineering project. The bridge has a pair of bascule lifting bridges, together with a hydraulic plant building and control room. This is now being rebuilt as part of the Crossrail project.
Wade's Place
Manor House– a house called Manor House stood near a gate to Poplar High Street in this area until the 19th. It appears here on maps from the 16th. In 1553 it was the home of John Maynard, Sherriff of London. By the 18th it conferred no manorial rights and was demolished in the 1820s.
Holy Family School is the oldest Catholic school in London. It was founded as Wade Street School by Father Barber in 1816. The school room was used as chapel for Irish Catholics and the present school yard was the burial ground. From 1882 it was run by the Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus. The mid-nineteenth-century buildings were remodelled in 1905 and extended in 1922. A separate building was erected in 1929, bringing the capacity of the school up to 1,000 places for boys, girls and infants. The present buildings consist of the two-storey 1929 block, designed by Thomas H. B. Scott, with additional classrooms constructed in the mid–1970s, and more since.
West Ferry Circus
This was proposed in the 1985 Docklands Masterplan. Westferry Circus was begun first and built very quickly to start but was then abandoned when Olympia & York fell and was only restarted in 1994. The aluminium lamp standards by SOM, used throughout Canary Wharf, are here. The whole thing is a rather nasty sequence of underground roundabouts. In the centre of the circus above is a circular garden with wrought iron gates which they pivot about a point about one third the ways along.
The gates by Giuseppe Lund have a rustic theme and symbolize the seasons.
Vanishing Point. On the southern side of Westferry Circus. Made in Derbyshire limestone on a steel base by Sculptor Jay Battle in 1999.
West Ferry Road
West Ferry Station. Opened in 1987 it lies between Poplar and also West India Quay and Limehouse on the Docklands Light Railway. The DLR station was built midway between the site of the old Limehouse and West India Docks stations on the line of the old London and Blackwall Railway.
Globe. Art work with a series of clocks registering the times in major cities throughout the world by Artist: Richard Wentworth,
Traffic Light Tree. This is on the roundabout at Marsh Wall. Undertaken in 1997 by Pierre Vivant. This tree made of traffic lights changes the lights in a random order.
1 City Arms. Pub now demolished. The original City Arms was opened around 1811, by the owner of the former Gut House. The recently demolished building opened in 1936 and closed at the start of 2012 having been bought for an enormous sum of money by a developer. It had been renamed City Pride in the 1980’s
2-4 Live work building. This was for the Peabody Trust by CZWG in 1999. The name ‘West Ferry’ incorporated in giant lettering in grey brick on the wall facing the station
Impounding Station. In the angle with Marsh Wall, red brick, built by the PLA in 1926-8 when they dammed the South Dock western entrance.
West India Avenue
Planted with shady trees, a central double row of limes with a carpet of periwinkles.
Lamp standards handsome aluminium by SOM, are especially prominent here.
Man with Open Arms sculpture by Giles Penny. 1995 in roughly textured bronze
West India Docks
A campaign to build secure, enclosed docks for the West India trade began in 1793 with a committee of merchants, led by William Vaughan, a naval architect, and Robert Milligan, a planter. In 1794 the Corporation of the City of London took over the scheme. Through Robert Milligan and George Hibbert, an Isle of Dogs scheme was developed and a joint committee of merchants set up. A plan was drawn up in 1797 by George Dance the younger, as Clerk of the City Works, John Foulds, his assistant, the engineer William Jessop, and Walker for the merchants. The plan received Royal Assent in 1799 for two main dock basins to facilitate customs clearance at the insistence of the Board of Excise with independent access from each dock to the Thames, and a secure wall and ditch to surround them both. A new joint- stock company, the West India Dock Company, was set up. The City built the city canal in 1802-5. Ralph Walker was appointed Resident Engineer and Jessop was appointed in 1800 as civil engineer to oversee him. In 1802 when the Import Dock was opened, together with the Blackwall Basin and entrance lock. The Export Dock opened in 1806.
Cranes - some dock cranes survive having been extensively renovated. Most of the mechanical and electrical equipment has been removed so they are only gaunt emasculated monuments.
Junction Dock, 1956 Site of Hydraulic Pumping Station
West India Docks Export Dock
This now seems to be called ‘Middle Dock’. It was originally specified by the West India Dock Act of 1799 and embodied the separation of imported cargoes from exported goods to meet objections by the Commissioners of Customs on both classes of goods being in one dock area
A and B sheds served export berths. These three sheds were low and narrow and thus not efficient operation, but there were difficulties of lateral expansion between the two docks are obvious. Because of this an additional twenty-six feet was gained by building a false quay into the south side of the Import Dock.
South Dock Station. This station opened in 1871 and was built on the Millwall Extension Railway on dock company property. Trains had to be horse drawn through the docks because of fire danger. In 1926 it was closed and demolished The BT building is now on the site
West India Docks. -Peninsula
The Peninsula between the Export and South West India docks was even narrower than the north quay and the road itself was in the quay. Ships were excluded from the south side of the Export dock, because of quayside congestion. This area has now been extended out into the North and Middle docks and is the main site for the Canary Wharf development.
West India Dock - Import Dock.
This is now called the North Dock
Import Dock. The Layout was by Ralph Walker, the resident engineer in 1802/. Detailed design and engineering works was carried out by William Jessop. It had Room for 300, three-masted 300-ton vessels which entered through the Blackwall Basin and unloaded in the Import Dock with goods going to the into warehouses alongside. The main cargoes were sugar, rum, mahogany, dyeboard and coffee.
Dock Walls. The walls exposed on the North side dock are by Jessop. The concave section is to fit the ships' hulls. They are; 2 metres thick, with buttresses behind bound to the wall by iron hoops
East Wood Wharf. Buldings 6-11. These were on south side of the Import Dock, the traditional centre of the hardwood trade in the Port.
Buildings 10 and 11 were a new transit shed design for fork lift truck use. Mechanical handling on quays and in transit sheds was only introduced after 1946; and these sheds were the scene of pilot experiments
West India Dock Import Dock North Quay
A master plan for the West India Docks by Michael Squire & Partners, recommended the rehabilitation of the warehouses on the North Quay as a centerpiece. The warehouses stand back from the water because in 1912 a false quay was built out into the dock to increase the width
Warehouses. The North Quay warehouses were built in 1800-3, and designed by Gwilt & Son. They constitute a wall of brick building for half a mile, forming a perimeter wall to the docks and their outer defences. All except 1 & 2 at the west end were destroyed by bombing. They Consisted originally of six tall and three lower warehouses, divided by one-storey link buildings. They are now all the same height because the lower buildings were heightened. The warehouses were repaired by Feilden & Mawson in 1984-5 and in the early 1990s, are absorbed into an architectural composition for the former Olympia & York landholding.
1 Museum in Docklands, converted by Purcell Miller Tritton & Partners and opened in 2002. The earliest multi storey in London. It was originally a low shed and includes a smaller block linking it to
No 2. Timber framed internally and used for storing sugar. It was devastated by fire in 1901 and the timber structure was replaced in its original form, complete with grand staircase at the western end for use by merchants. Converted 1998-2000 to apartments, restaurants and shops by FSP Architects for Manhattan Loft. Thus retaining much of the original internal structure, but inserting central service cores and light wells to cope with the deep plan. The timber floors rested originally on oak storey-posts but these were replaced to increase load capacity by cruciform cast-iron posts from the Horseley Iron Co., in 1813-18 on John Rennie’s suggestion. The timber-trussed roof in the central block was re-created in 1994-5 by The Morton Partnership. This is the earlier warehouse. Sugar, which arrived in hogsheads, was the main commodity. It was unloaded from ship onto quay, sorted out undercover in an open-sided transit shed and then rolled on small four wheeled trucks to be lifted by crane into the warehouse. Sugar merchants came and were allowed one sample only from each hogshead to determine quality. On purchase, the sugar was dispatched onto the road by cart and horse.
Buoys on the quayside outside the museum. The spherical green buoy was used for marking the sites of wrecks and the black and white chequered buoy used to mark navigational channels
St Peter’s. London’s floating church which is moored opposite the Docklands Museum.
Bronze statue - figure of Sir Robert Milligan the merchant who proposed the docks, and was later chairman of the West India Company. This was done in 1810-12 by Sir Richard Westmacott.
C, D, and E were transit sheds on the north quay. Transit sheds are necessary because land and water transport cannot be completely synchronized.
Canary Wharf Crossrail station. It is being built in a dock water area on the North Dock of West India Quay. The station and proposed retail and park areas will be six storeys high. The station development will also provide a link between Canary Wharf and Poplar, and with other stations
West India Dock Road
The road was laid out in 1802 as part of the Commercial Road, to link West India Docks to the City. Ralph Walker, dock company engineer, made the section from the docks to Limehouse. There was a toll gate south of Pennyfields, and later one near King Street. The Chinatown district of Limehouse had its centre in the West India Dock Road. The colony with its oriental atmosphere has gone.
11 The Sailmaker Building. This was built in 1860, as a sail makers and ship chandlers, according to the lettering on the string course. There was a hydraulic chain testing machine in the basement which is now in the Museum of London. It has since had a number of uses as offices and se by the Salvation Army
14 former German Sailors' Home opened in 1910, by George and Charles Waymouth for Sir J.H.W. Schroder. There was accommodation for fifty men in rooms partitioned by reinforced-concrete walls. Plaque on the wall with the name of the road
29 Limehouse Police Station. Built 1940 designed by G. Mackenzie Trench, the Metropolitan Police Architect. Brick and streamlined. There is a Courtyard with large section house behind. .
75 Maritime Hall National Union of Seamen
Transport and General Workers Offices. Demolished 1990s.
West India House. This was here that the first post war block of flats in Stepney 1946 and opened by Atlee, then Prime Minister. It was site of the Strangers Home
Strangers Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders, was opened in 1857 by Prince Albert. The plight of lascar seamen wandering the streets around the docks dying of cold and starvation was a cause of great concern. Henry Venn then launched an appeal for funds to open a hostel for them. By the 1930s the home was unoccupied, and in 1938 it was taken over by Stepney Council and used to house families made homeless by their slum clearance programme. Te building was subsequently demolished
West India Docks Station. This was opened in 1840 as part of the London and Blackwall Railway. The platforms were timber built onto the viaduct. It was partly rebuilt by the Great Eastern Railway in 1896. It closed in 1926 and was demolished in 1931. The DLR station is in the same vicinity. The station included some rudimentary goods handling equipment in the shape of a crane and some chutes.
Dragon Gate. Reference to the Chinese community by the Art of Change
Fire station. The provision of a fire station here was a priority of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. plans for the Poplar station were produced in 1867 and the building was completed in 1868 The adoption of motorized fire engines by the led to a reduction in the number of stations required, and A report in 1920 recommended the closure of Poplar. The building was sold to the London Salvage Corps who used the building until 1928. It passed to T. F. Maltby Limited, stevedores, for use as a store and thy redeveloped the site in 1959–60. This passed to Crome & Mitchell, nut merchants, in 1970 and was demolished in 1987–8 for road improvements
43 Westferry Arms. A still functioning pub
55 this site was used by works manufacturing ships' fire-hearths. From 1929- 1950s British Scaling & Painting Company used the works for removing and preventing corrosion on marine boilers and ships. Cleared in the mid-1960s for housing.
59 Westhorp's Limited. Here from 1899 as a manufacturer of patent machine-picked oakum and antiseptic marine lint. They had erected an office, showroom and multi-storey warehouse, until 1940. Cleared in the mid-1960s for housing.
73 Buccaneer pub – site was the Blue Posts. The Blue Posts public house stood opposite the Railway Tavern, and the landlord was the son of Charlie Brown and was also named Charles. Following his father's death, Charlie displayed many of the antiques and curios inherited from his father.
92 The Chinese Mission was one several missions opened during the 1920s and 1930s, to bring Christianity to the Chinese community.
116 Charlie Brown’s. Site of pub the real name of which was the Railway Tavern. It contained memorabilia from all over the world. The pub was built in 1845, and Charlie Brown became landlord in 1894. He bought whatever sailors returning home had to offer for sale. When Charlie Brown died in June 1932, thousands of people turned out for his funeral. The pub was demolished in 1989 for the Limehouse Link road.
Willoughby Passage
Gates by Kate Hackney, with coloured lights set like into bronzed serpentine ironwork. . This passage is named after Sir Hugh Willoughby, navigator and explorer who collaborated with Cabot
Woodstock Terrace
The name comes from Edward Wood Stock who was the landowner and grandson of John Stock of Stock’s Academy.
Wren's Landing
Down to the Import Dock steps have scribbly metal railings by Bruce McLean.
Sources
Aldous. London Villages
Bayman and Jolly. Docklands Light Railway. Official Handbook
Ben’s Limehouse,
Bird. Geography of the Port of London,
Body. The Blackwall and Millwall Extension Railways
CAMRA City and East London Beer Guide,
Carr. Docklands History Survey
Carr. Docklands,
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Connor. Branch Lines of East London
Co-partners Magazine
Co-partnership Herald
Disused Stations. Web site
Docklands Light Railway trail
Friends of the Earth. London Gas works sites
Incledon Web site.
Gardenvisit. Web site
GLIAS NewsletterGraces Guide. Web site
Island History. Web site
Jackson. London’s Local Railways
Lavang. Web site
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Web site
London Docklands Heritage trail
London Encyclopedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Railway Record
Lucas. London,
Macarthy. London North of the Thames
Marcan. London Docklands Guide
Methodist walk,
O’Connor. Stepney’s Own Railway
Pevsner & Cherry. London Docklands
Pevsner and Cherry. London East
Port of London Magazine
Skyscraper News. Web site
Stewart. Gas Works of the North Thames Area
Survey of London. Poplar,
Thames East Walk
TourEast leaflet
Walford. Village London,
Workhouses. Web site