The East End Dwellings Company was a Victorian

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

model dwellings company, operating in the East End of London in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The company was founded in principle in 1882 by, among others, Samuel Augustus Barnett, vicar of St Jude's Church,

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

; it was finally incorporated in 1884. It aimed to "house the very poor while realizing some profit", "their particular purpose being to erect blocks of dwellings, to be let by the room, so that the poorest class of laborers could be accommodated". Unlike many of the model dwellings companies, the EEDC offered accommodation to the casual poor and day laborers. The company's first venture was Katharine Buildings in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...

, followed by several schemes in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. They went on to build around the East End. Along the principles of

Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3December 183813August 1912) was an English Reform movement, social reformer and founder of the National Trust. Her main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteent ...

's schemes, the company used female rent collectors, including Beatrice Potter (later Webb), one of the founders of the London School of Economics & Political Science and Ella Pycroft, who ran the Buildings alongside Maurice Eden Paul.

Buildings

* Katharine Buildings - Cartwright Street, Aldgate * Museum House - Green Street, Bethnal Green (1888) *Tankerton Street, King's Cross (1892) * Meadows Dwellings - Mansford Street (1894) * Ravenscroft Dwellings - Columbia Road (1897) * Dunstan Houses - Stepney Green (1899) * Whidborne Buildings - Tonbridge Street, Kings Cross (1890s) * Mendip Houses - Kirkwall Place, Bethnal Green (1900) * Shepton Houses (1900) * Merceron Houses (1901) * Montfort House (1901) * Gretton Houses (1901) * Thornhill Houses -

Barnsbury Barnsbury is an area of north London in the London Borough of Islington, within the N1 and N7 postal districts. History The name is a syncopated form of ''Bernersbury'' (1274), being so called after the Berners family: powerful medieval ...

(1902)Thornhill Houses Tenants and Residents Association
/ref> * Evesham House - Old Ford (1905) * Globe Road/Cyprus Street block -

(1906)

Buildings

See also

References

Further reading