31A Commercial Road

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29-31A Commercial Road
Contributed by Survey of London on June 22, 2016

This site was created by the westwards extension of Commercial Road in 1869-70. It was acquired by Henry Bear, a tobacco manufacturer. His heir, Adam Bear, granted John Furze & Co., brewers, a 90-year lease in 1899 subject to a building agreement. The brewery was taken over by Taylor Walker & Co., and in 1901 the agreement and lease were transferred to Solomon Kirstein, a printer based at 38 Church Lane. By 1902 Kirstein had built three three- storey houses or workrooms with shops adjoining at 29-31a Commercial Road, with Herbert O. Ellis as his architect and M. Calnan & Co. as builders. Kirstein himself took the shop at No. 29, living above with his wife, three children and a servant.

Around 1970 David Abraham began selling knitwear at 34 White Church Lane. In 2015 the David Abraham Partnership put forward a redevelopment scheme for a larger site proposing a seventeen-storey tower designed by Stock Woolstencroft. ¹