Documenting the history of the Waterlow Estate in Bethnal Green, East London. Comprising Wilmot, Corfield, Ainsley and Finnis Street the Waterlow Estate was built by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company starting in 1869.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by reader Peter Gasson who mentioned that he had a photographic slide he had taken many years ago. I was very keen to see the photograph and so dropped him a line.
Peter said: “As promised, here is a copy of the colour slide of Waterlow Buildings. The date on the slide is September 1965; this would be the date it was processed, but it would have been taken not more than a month or so earlier”
Photograph of Waterlow Estate taken in 1965 by Peter Gasson
Having a (very) niche obsession such as the Waterlow Estate means months of trawling the internet finding very little and then once in a while hitting the jackpot. It was in this vein that I recently happened across The Streets of Waterlow Estate and Bethnal Green Facebook group. I’m not sure why I’d never tried searching Facebook before but this group has proved to be a treasure trove of memories and photographs of the Estate.
A particular highlight was a link to a clip from Thames News in 1982 detailing the state of disrepair the buildings had fallen into by this time. You can see the clip here.
I recently came across this brochure from McInerney homes for the houses on the South West side of Corfield Street and along Finnis Street. These homes were built around 1981 and so far this is the only information I’ve been able to find about them. They are very typical of suburban homes built in the 1970s and early 80s but as such seem a little out of place in Bethnal Green.
In a recent post (Memories of growing up on Corfield Street) I mentioned that I have come across a number of photographs of Corfield Street before the blocks on Western side of the Street were demolished. As promised here are the photographs (with sources where available).
Corfield Street 1968.
Source: London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Journal Vol22 part1 (http://www.lamas.org.uk/transactions-archive/Vol%2022.pdf)
Corfield Street, looking North from Three Colts Lane. c1970
Source: unknown
The rest are a series of photographs by Andrew Scott which were posted on the Spitalfields Life website.
Looking north up Corfield Street. The blocks on the left are boarded up ready for demolition.
Inside one of the Corfield Street flats.
Below I’ve posted a couple of images showing Corfield Street today, both are taken looking South to North.
Returning now to Andrew Scott’s photographs, but this time showing Finnis Street.
This is a guess but I think this photograph is taken from the rear of the now demolished Western side blocks on Corfield Street looking North West toward the rear of Finnis Street buildings with the Wilmot Street blocks in the far distance.
This is looking North towards Ainsley Street somewhere between Finnis and Corfield Street. By the looks of things this is during the demolition of the Corfield and Finnis Street blocks seen in the earlier photograph. You can also see a portion of what is now the Hague School on the left (this school used to be known as Wilmot Street Primary, and the Hague school was situated in the building which still stands on Mape Street). The blocks on the right are the rear of the now demolished western Corfield blocks.
This is a similar angle looking up through Finnis Street today.
Finally an image of Three Colts Lane with Ron’s Saloon to the right (also mentioned here). This photograph is by Tony Hall and is featured on Spitalfields Life.
If you look at the plans below (from the Metropolitan Archive) you can get an idea of where these photographs could have been taken.
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