This site takes in what had been 26–46 Fieldgate Street, a humble row much of which originated with the builder John Langley in 1790. The earlier King’s Arms public house (at what became No. 32) was rebuilt by Abraham Davis in 1891–2. It came to be known as a place where Jewish workers and anarchists met. By 1871 the Ebenezer Hall had adjoined to its east at No. 34. There the Salvation Army’s first 'War Cry' was printed in 1879.1 Further east Nos 36–46 were rebuilt as dwellings in 1902–4 by Davis Brothers (Israel Davis alone after 1902), working with J. H. Newman & William Jacques, the London Hospital’s surveyors.2
All the buildings on Fieldgate Street between Greenfield Road and Settles Street were cleared in the 1960s, anticipating a factory by way of extension of the Plumber’s Row industrial area. A three-storey scheme of 1964–5 for S. B. & N. Landau Ltd by Newman, Levinson & Partners was abandoned. New plans by Joseph Mendleson and Partners for Abbey Made Ltd came forward in 1978 proposing office use. This was opposed by the GLC on zoning grounds and the project was carried through as a factory in 1981–2 for S. Lipmann with John Willmott (London) Ltd, builders. The four-storey brick-faced corner block was converted to office use in the early 1990s. As 42 Fieldgate Street (formerly 100 Greenfield Road), in 2018 it houses a restaurant (Maedah Grill), the Qurtubah Institute, an adult-education centre teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ibrahim College and MPL Estates Ltd. Extension to Settles Street had been abandoned in 1981, and that corner remained undeveloped until 2003–4 when 44–46 Fieldgate Street was built. This is a red-brick block of nine flats by Bahara Designs Ltd, alternatively Bahara Building Consultants, called Mohmed Apartments after the developer, Saeed Yusuf Mohmed. It might be labelled neo- Davis Brothers as it takes strong stylistic cues from the local tenements of a century earlier. More flats were provided by infill of the intervening space for Mohmed’s MPL Estates Ltd in 2018. Designs of 2011 by David Kroll were taken forward by 1618 Architects Ltd. Taller redevelopment of the early 1980s block to the west is intended to follow.3
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), District Surveyor's Returns (DSR): Goad insurance maps, 1890 and 1899: Jewish Chronicle, 17 June 1898, p. 29: Post Office Directories ↩
Royal London Hospital Archives, RLHLH/A/9/411, p. 178; RLHLH/S/1/4: DSR ↩
LMA, GLC/AR/BR/34/003956: Ordnance Survey maps: Goad, 1953 and 1968: Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, Building Control files 40644,40646: Tower Hamlets planning applications online: Historic England Archives, NMR 21763/23: information kindly supplied by David Kroll ↩
This film was made in 2018 for the Survey of London by Nurull Islam and Rehan Jamil. It documents the changing South Asian restaurant trade in Whitechapel, and includes the restaurant located in this building.
Contributed by Survey of London on May 17, 2019