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
Model dwellings companies (MDCs) were a group of private companies in Victorian Britain that sought to improve the housing conditions of the working classes by building new homes for them, at the same time receiving a competitive rate of return o ...
, operating in the
East End of London
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have univ ...
in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The company was founded in principle in 1882 by, among others,
Samuel Augustus Barnett
Samuel Augustus Barnett (8 February 1844 – 17 June 1913) was a Church of England cleric and social reformer who was particularly associated with the establishment of the first university settlement, Toynbee Hall, in east London in 1884. ...
, vicar of St Jude's Church,
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a ...
; it was finally incorporated in 1884.
Its aim was 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 labourers could be accommodated". Unlike many of the model dwellings companies, the EEDC offered accommodation to the casual poor and day labourers.
The company's first venture was Katharine Buildings in
Aldgate
Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate.
The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
, followed by a number of schemes in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. They went on to build around the East End. Along the principles of
Octavia Hill'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 (1902)
Thornhill Houses Tenants and Residents Association
/ref>
* Evesham House - Old Ford
Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that is named after the natural ford which provided a crossing of the River Lea.
History Administration and boundaries
Historically, Old Ford was a cluster of houses and a mill, around ...
(1905)
* Globe Road/Cyprus Street block - Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...
(1906)
See also
*List of existing model dwellings
Model dwellings were buildings or estates constructed, mostly during the Victorian era, along philanthropic lines to provide decent living accommodation for the working class. They were typically erected by private model dwellings companies ...
References
Further reading
*Connor, JE and Critchley, BJ (1984) ''The Red Cliffs of Stepney: History of Buildings erected by the East End Dwellings Co. 1885-1949'', Connor and Butler
*O'Day, Rosemary (2004)
Caring or controlling? The East End of London in the 1880s and 1890s
In: Emsley, Clive; Johnson, Eric and Spierenburg, Pieter eds. ''Social control in Europe: Volume 2, 1800-2000''. Columbus, Ohio, USA: Ohio State University Press, pp. 149–166.
{{Model dwellings companies
Philanthropic organisations based in the United Kingdom
Housing organisations based in London
Model dwellings
Organizations established in 1882
1882 establishments in England
Companies based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
British companies established in 1882