My Chase Evans
Whitechapel, E1
Whitechapel in London’s East End is a historic, vibrant and multicultural area in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Set on the doorstep of the City of London, and with a modern Rail/Tube station served by the Elizabeth Line/Crossrail, Whitechapel is one of the best-connected East London locations.
Part of the London City Fringe development opportunity area and covering densely built neighbourhoods north and south of Whitechapel Road (A11), Whitechapel encompasses the new NHS Royal London Hospital, Queen Mary University campus, East London Mosque, and one of the largest London hight street markets. It borders Bethnal Green to the north, Aldgate to the west, Shadwell to the south, and Stepney Green to the east.
Whitechapel is a district with rich and interesting urban character featuring many listed buildings and conservation areas, with a mix of 18th-century Georgian houses, warehouse conversions, estate housing, and most recent pockets of modern, new-build homes. Earlier houses are found on Fournier Street, Elder Street, Princelet Street and Wilkes Street and south of Whitechapel Road such as Sidney Square, Varden Street, Cavell Street, New Road and Turner Street.
Whitechapel’s recent transformation is linked to investments propelled by the London Olympics in 2012 and the arrival of the Elizabeth Line in 2022. Creating another new, fast-growing London location, the Whitechapel Vison Master Plan is a 15 years £300 million regeneration project which will provide 3,500 new homes, community facilities, seven new public parks and spaces, a new university and commercial campus creating around 5,000 jobs, and a new civic hub for the borough. Although developing fast, Whitechapel is still as a more affordable place to live than the nearby Shoreditch or the City of London.
History
Whitechapel developed along the main route connecting the City and Essex and it gets its name from the lime-washed white exterior of St Mary’s parish church built in the 13th century.
Mostly agricultural land, the district became an open settlement for people, industry, or trade that, for various reasons, had to move out from the congested and overpopulated City. By the 16th century, Whitechapel’s high street had many heavy metalwork workshops, produce stalls, hay and cattle markets, and wholesale second-hand clothing outlets. The district soon became a new location for many low-paid foundries, breweries and tanneries serving the nearby docks on the Thames. Cheap makeshift cottages for homeless and poor London workers followed along both sides of Whitechapel High Street.
The area was growing fast in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1733, the Goodman’s Fields Theatre was founded, and London Hospital moved on Whitechapel Road in the 1750s. Many poor dwellings along the trade route were replaced by better housing for businesses and wealthier people settling in the area. More substantial houses were built along Leman Street by immigrants Sephardic Jews at end of the 17th century. The new trade from East and West India Docks through Commercial Road increased the traffic in the district further. Main streets of Whitechapel were ‘lined with coaching inns, carts with garden produce, market women with baskets of fruit, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, brewers’ drays and hay wains for the hay marked.’
By the end of the 19th century, the area was referred to, by the social researcher and reformer Charles Booth, as ‘Eldorado of the East, a gathering together of the poor fortune seekers.’ The infamous ‘Whitechapel Murders’ refers to 11 murdered women who lived and worked in the area in the late 1800s, some of which were believed to be killed by ‘Jack the Ripper’.
Local philanthropy and community-driven movements born in Whitechapel during the 19th and 20th centuries include the Barnett family who campaigned for improved living conditions for poor Whitechapel households. The couple is remembered as founders of Toynbee Hall and the Whitechapel Gallery. Also born in Whitechapel is The Salvation Army, the worldwide charitable church organisation founded by William Booth.
As part of the slum clearances in the late 19th century, many poor dwellings were demolished, and the area was re-developed. Peabody Estate was the first purpose-built, improved housing in the area. The scheme came from the Peabody Trust founded by the American banker and philanthropist George Peabody.
Cable Street in Whitechapel was the setting of a major anti-fascist event in 1936 where a fascist march was supposed to take on and was stopped by Whitechapel residents and left-wing parties.
Low rents in Whitechapel had always attracted immigration such as the Irish who moved in during the potato famine in the 1840s. A large Jewish population from Eastern Europe settled in the area between 1880-1914, and the most recent are Bangladeshi immigrants.
At the beginning of the 20th century Whitechapel was home to anti-capitalist revolutionaries, socialist thinkers and writers including George Bernard Shaw and Vladimir Ilic Lenin.
Like much of East End, Whitechapel was heavily targeted and bombed in WW2. A firebomb destroyed the local landmark St Mary Church in 1940 and the church was demolished in 1952 making place for a local park.
The arrival of the Elizabeth Line in 2022 marks a new stage in the development of Whitechapel. The district is home to the new Tower Hamlets Town Hall, the borough’s new civic centre.
Culture:
Whitechapel Art Gallery on Whitechapel High Street is a historic landmark and is one of the very first publicly founded London galleries. Since 1901 and through numerous exhibitions, talks and events the gallery has introduced to the art world many iconic artists from Jackson Pollock to Frida Kahlo.
Whitechapel boasts two well-known London markets: Petticoat Lane and Whitechapel Market. Petticoat Lane dates to the 1700s and is one of the most popular London Sunday market events specialising in clothing. A lively Whitechapel market sells fruit, vegetables, garments and has shops stocked with an extraordinary selection of Asian cuisine ingredients.
Wiltons is a beautiful Victorian Music Hall from mid-1800s and its program includes theatre, dance, music, storytelling, and live comedy.
The handsome new Tower Hamlets Town Hall on Whitechapel Road opened in March 2023 in the refurbished Grade-II listed former Royal London Hospital building.
Toynbee Hall on Commercial Street is a local community organisation established in 1884 to support social change and education in the district. The current building evokes an Elizabethan manor residence and was completed in 1938. The organisation provides free legal advice and space for community activities and events.
Spitalfields City Farm on Buxton Street is an inner-city sanctuary for animals with strong community links.
Centre of the Cell at Queen Mary, University of London is a science education centre on Newark Street. It provides first-class shows and workshops for anyone interested in neuroscience, cells, biology, and the human body. One of its highlights is the STEM Pod Experience, a state-of-the-art 1.5 hr long interactive science show taking place in the ‘Neuron Pod’, a striking build by Alldesign and Will Alsop.
Whitechapel is not complete without the unsolved 19th century crimes in the district associated with Jack the Ripper which have been an inspiration for many books, film, and theatre productions as well as for a constant influx of visitors and tourists visiting the area.
New Homes and developments:
Cityscape
One Commercial Street
Osborne Apartments
Council: Tower Hamlets
For an up-to-date council tax bands and charges see HERE
Transport (Zone 2):
Whitechapel Station is the main transport hub with access to The London Underground (District and Hammersmith and City lines), London Overground (to Canada Water and Highbury & Islington) and Crossrail / Elizabeth Line services (to Heathrow, Bond Street, Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood).
Busses:
25 to Holborn and Ilford
205 to Paddington and Bow Church Station
323 To Mile End and Canning Town Station
488 to Dalston Junction and Bromley-by-Bow
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