Commercial Road

Commercial Road is a busy, polluted – and in places ugly – traffic artery which is very significant to me and my family history.  From the mid-1800s, when my ancestor Cord Lemmermann arrived from Germany, and until the late 1900s, the Lemmermans always lived in its vicinity (the last ‘n’ in the family name was dropped during WWI). Me? I was even born there, at the East End Maternity Hospital.

Cord – he anglicized his name to Conrad – came from a farming family just south of Hamburg and, like many of his compatriots in the East End at the time, he ended up working at a sugar baker’s, “a notoriously labour intensive, hot, exhausting, and dangerous place to work” (see this website for a description of the industry).

For more than a century, male Lemmermans worked locally in the docks or on the wharves, or had other labouring jobs. After WWII, some migrated to far off places like Dagenham, Basildon, Aveley and …. the Isle of Dogs. I made a map of where everyone lived over the years, and here is the Shadwell area, with Commercial Road at the top:

Commercial Road is also, literally, connected to the Isle of Dogs (the usual subject-matter of this blog). When plans for the construction of the East India Docks and West India Docks were announced close to 1800, thoughts also turned to how to accommodate the dock traffic between them and the City. The dock owners were keen to ensure swift and reliable transport of their goods; after all, one of the main reasons for building the docks in the first place was to circumvent the delays – and thefts – caused when ships had to wait in the crowded Thames for their turn to be unloaded.

At the time, the main thoroughfares between the City of London and Limehouse were Cable Street and Ratcliff Highway (sections of both roads had various names over the years), but these were already very congested, being the main roads between the City and south Essex. It was proposed instead to build a new road.

The following image, a section of a 1753 image of London Hospital viewed from Whitechapel Road shows how rural the area was. In the background are ships and buildings along the Thames, and St. George in the East, but other than that, just fields.

Section of ‘View of the London Hospital in Whitechapel Road’, 1753. Artist: Jean Baptiste Claude Chatelain

Travellers can be seen passing through the fields, possibly following White Horse Lane. It was proposed to build the new Commercial Road based on sections of this old country path. The following is an extract from the “Plan of a road intended to be made from the West India Docks in the Isle of Dogs to communicate with Aldgate High Street in the City of London; to be called the Commercial Road.”

1800. Plan of projected Commercial Road. (London Metropolitan Archives). Click for full-sized version.

Thanks to an Act of Parliament, the Commercial Road Company (a business set up by the dock owners, its first chairman was George Hibbert) were awarded construction of the new road.

Section of the Act to allow construction of Commercial Road

After the Act was passed, the company set about raising funds, announcing the availability of subscriptions in national newspapers.

Money was also earned selling building plots along the road.

The opening of the Commercial Road in 1806 was quickly followed by the construction of new streets and buildings on both sides. 

1812. Western half of Commercial Road

1812. Eastern half of Commercial Road

By the 1840s the road was completely lined with buildings, and the former fields at their rears had disappeared (the population of London grew from 1 million to 6.7 million between 1800 and 1900). The urbanisation of Stepney was complete.

1843

In the 1860s Commercial Road became a public road, with ownership transferring to the Metropolitan Board of Works, and road tolls were abolished. In 1870, the road was extended at its western end to remove the need for the tight turn into Church Lane.

1860s. Proposed Commercial Road extension

A Journey East along the Commercial Road

The new corner with Whitechapel High Street was known as Gardiner’s Corner after the department store that was built on the location.

c1900. Gardiner’s Corner

In 1972, Gardiner’s, which had closed a year earlier, was enveloped in a huge fire. The damage was so great – the clock tower collapsed at the height of the conflagration – that the famous landmark had to be demolished. The junction has been remodelled at least twice since then, and the corner no longer exists; the area has been reinvented by property developers as Aldgate Place.

1972. Photo: London Fire Brigade

Just round the corner in Commercial Road a fire station was built in 1875. Its engine house was rebuilt in 1900, and the set of buildings was replaced with a new fire station in 1929.

1905. Whitechapel Fire Station, Commercial Road. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=215540)

2015. Whitechapel Fire Station, Commercial Road

The Gunmaker’s Proof House, largely obscured by the van in the following photo, was built in the 1820s. The building to its right, 46 Commercial Road, is the former Hall of the Gunmaker’s Company. In the background, the huge Commercial Road Goods Depot.

1965. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=122975)

Severn, King & Co. had a grocer’s shop in Church Lane and a sugarhouse around the corner, between Union Street and Mulberry Street. It burned down in 1819, and the remains became a bit of a sightseeing attraction for a while.

1820. Remains of Severn, King & Co’s sugarhouse. Image: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=20034)

Looking back towards Gardiner’s Corner. The garage on the right is approximately on the site of the sugarhouse. Across the road are Morrison Buildings, demolished in the 1970s (a smaller block still exists on the other side of the road).

1967. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=122981)

Present-day equivalent of previous view

The following photo was taken at the corner with Berner Street (now named Henriques Street) in about 1890, two years after Jack the Ripper committed one of his murders in the street. From 1871 to at least 1881, Cord Lemmerman lived at 29 Berner Street with his wife Sophia Elizabeth, three children, and fourteen other people.

c1890. Commercial Road

A few yards east, and still looking east, in circa 1895. The Duke of Clarence pub on the left was at 71 Commercial Road, on the corner of Greenfield Road.

Circa 1895, looking east. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=123095)

The sites of a few of the previous old images are all on this modern-day photo.

Looking east from Settles Street. In the background the construction of the tower blocks near Watney Street is visible. After years of living in a tiny flat above a clothes maker in Cannon Street Road, my uncle, aunt and cousins – Tommy, Margie, Danny and Katheryn – moved into one of these, Winterton House.

1971. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=122992)

Approximately the same view as the previous photo.

At 226 Commercial Road was the Palaseum Cinema. Ken Roe (cinematreasures.org)

Located … between Anthony Street and Fenton Street. Designed in a Moorish style, when built it had two domes on each end of the facade, with a central dome over the entrance. This central dome had a decorative minaret located on each side. The 1,000 seat Fienman’s Yiddish Theatre, opened in March 1912 with productions of “King Ahab” and “Rigoletto”. It was soon also screening films, and in 1913, it was re-named Palaseum Cinema.

The Palaseum Cinema was closed on 19th June 1960 with Dorothy Dandridge in “Tamingo” and Randolph Scott in “Commanche Station”.

It was re-opened by Essoldo and re-named Essoldo on 18th October 1961 with Orson Welles in “David and Goliath” and the documentary “Blitz on Britain”. The Essoldo closed on 1st September 1966 with Elvis Presley in “Girls, Girls, Girls” and Jerry Lewis in “The Bellboy”.

It then re-opened as the Palaseum Cinema, screening Indian ‘Bollywood’ films. The Palaseum Cinema finally closed in October 1985, and was later demolished. In 2008, a recently erected building on the site contains a Tesco Express supermarket, with flats above.

The previous photo was taken from the corner with Philpot Street. The following was taken from the same place, but looking in the opposite direction. At No. 240a was the former Baptist Chapel with its grand, columned facade.

1966. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=122979)

Slightly further, before Watney Street and just visible in the previous photo, was the Great Synagogue, founded in 1920 and closed in 1968.

1970

To the rear of the synagogue, and running parallel with Watney Street between Watney Passage and Chapman Road is Morris Street, where my dad grew up. The Lemmermans moved here from Tarling Street, just the other side of Watney Street.

c1959. Grandmother Mary (nee Coakley), neighbour, neighbour, Dad John, Uncle Connie (Conrad).

My Grandfather Thomas getting ready to go to work. I never met him or my Grandmother, I am sorry to say, they both died just before my birth.

Watney Street hosted a smallish market which was a bit run-down and was missing many buildings after WWII. Still, it was much missed when it and the area around it was demolished and redeveloped in c1970.

1960s. Watney Street

1970. Architect’s model. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=276513)

Just past Deancross Street is one of the few residential terraces to be built in Commercial Road, 300-334 Commercial Road.

1974. 300-334 Commercial Road (left to right). Photo: London Metropolitan Archives. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=123041)

2019

To the left of this terrace – across Sutton Street – is St. Michael and Mary church and school, which was attended by my dad and some of his brothers. Across Commercial Road at this location is The George Tavern, built in 1820 on the site of the ‘Halfway House’ tavern which is shown on the old maps above and which had been there since at least 1654.

1600s. The Halfway House.

The George Tavern in 2010. Photo: Mick Lemmerman

A few yards further east was where I entered the world, in the early 1960s, The East End Maternity Hospital.

1973. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=224712)

The hospital became some sort of benefits office in the late 1970s, but is these days known as the Steel’s Lane Health Centre. I’d never heard of Steel’s Lane, and had to look it up – it is the narrow road behind the former hospital.

Travelling east again, past Arbour Square, the following is a photo taken in about 1890 from close to Stepney Causeway. London Metropolitan Archive:

On the right the protruding building was the Commercial Brewery Co., now the Grade II listed Troxy Theatre, with Dorset Street, now Pitsea Street to the right. On the left the Greco-Roman style building is Stepney Temple, Wesleyan East End Mission.

c1890. Commercial Road

A century later and my sister Angie, along with boyfriend Gary and son John, lived here on the right. A noisy place with the constant sound and smell of traffic.

The same view as the previous photo in 2015

Angie and John on the top floor balcony

Wikipedia:

Opened in 1933 on the site of an old brewery, Troxy cost £250,000 to build and when it first showed films had a capacity of 3,520, making it the largest cinema in England at that time. Inside the building the cinema had luxurious seating, a revolving stage, mirror-lined restaurants and customers were served by staff wearing evening dress. To add to the sense of luxury, Troxy staff sprayed perfume during film showings. The cinema showed all the latest major releases and had a floodlit organ which rose from the orchestra pit during the interval, playing popular tunes.

c1948

Between 1960 and 1963 Troxy stood empty until the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, took over and created the London Opera Centre School for the training of opera singers and professionals, which was based there from 1963 to 1977.

In the 1980s Top Rank (later named Mecca) Bingo took over the venue and bingo sessions were held twice a day, seven days a week until 2005 when the rise of online gambling led to Mecca taking the decision to stop using the building.

The venue was reborn as a live events space in 2006, and has continued to be used for concerts and other events ever since, hosting prestigious awards ceremonies, gigs, film screenings including Secret Cinema screenings and sporting events.

Diagonally opposite the Troxy was one of the best looking shops around as far as I was concerned – the Zenith dealership. There was something very un-English about it, almost American.

1957. To the right of Zenith’s. Photo: London Metropolitan Archive. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=122948)

2017

We’re close to the junction of Commercial Road, White Horse Road and Butcher Row (the present-day names), once the corner of White Horse Lane and White Horse Street, the northernmost extent of the 1794 Ratcliff Fire.

I spent many Saturday afternoons in this area; my dad and his brothers (and mate Sid) would religiously meet at Uncle Reg’s flat in John Scurr House to play cards, while my cousin Paul and I would hang around the streets or watch the telly. There was a baker’s at the start of White Horse Road which sold the best bread and rolls in the world – we’d always buy some of the still-warm bread before heading home. This photo shows the baker’s shortly before demolition – I can’t remember if it was also called Wall’s when I visited the shop around 1970.

2012

1851. Looking east. St. Anne’s is in the distance, and Regent’s Canal Dock and the Thames are on the right.

2019. Similar view to previous image.

The other side of the railway bridge was dominated on one side by George Cohen’s scrap firm whose head office address was 600 Commercial Road, a number used as a logo.

1970s. Dad, Sid, Uncle Harry

The other side of the road had various shops and houses that were looking forlorn in the 1970s.

1977. 683-691 Commercial Road. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=123079)

They’re looking better these days (but…..Tequila Wharf?).

We already entered E14 when we crossed the junction with White Horse Road and Butcher Row, but I never had the feeling that that area was Limehouse – it felt more like Stepney to me (if something can feel like Stepney). After the following rail bridge, though, we are clearly in Limehouse, with the Public Library visible in the near distance. Wikipedia:

The library was first proposed for construction in 1888, but the required finances could not be raised until 1900 when John Passmore Edwards was approached for assistance. He subscribed a sum of £5,000 and he subsequently laid the foundation stone on October 19 of that year. The library was opened to the public in November 1901 by the mayor of Stepney. More recently usage of the Grade II listed building fell, and it eventually closed in 2003.

That we are getting closer to the docks is apparent from the large building diagonally opposite the library: the Seamen’s Mission on the corner of Salmon Lane (whose name is a corruption of Sermon Lane due to its connection with St Dunstan’s Church in Stepney). This Grade II Listed building was originally known as the Empire Memorial Sailors’ Hostel.  Its foundation stone was laid on the 13th of March 1923.

1920s (estimate)

2017

The mission (or hostel) is close to Britannia Bridge, which crosses Limehouse Cut. Diagonally opposite, on the other side of the canal, is Limehouse Town Hall, which opened in 1881.

Circa 1910. Limehouse Town Hall, with St Anne’s in the background.

Wikipedia:

After the civil parish became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900, the town hall ceased to be the seat of local government and was used as an events venue and administrative centre.

On 30 July 1909 the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George made a polemical speech in the assembly room, attacking the House of Lords for its opposition to his “People’s Budget”. This speech was the origin of the phrase “To Limehouse”, or “Limehousing”, which meant an incendiary political speech. The building was badly damaged in the Blitz during the Second World War but was subsequently restored and re-opened by the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, in November 1950.

About a decade after the re-opening, my parents married in the Town Hall. My dad was 18 and my mum 17.

My parent’s wedding. On the steps of Limehouse Town Hall.

Next to the town hall, and dominating the area is St. Anne’s Church, designed by Hawksmoor and consecrated in 1730.The following image is believed to show Limehouse Cut being widened a couple of years after the opening of Commercial Road (which goes from left to right, lined by a fence, in this image). On the left is the Britannia Tavern, which gave its name to the bridge. It is a very rural scene.

1809

The view from St. Anne’s churchyard across Commercial Road, with outfitters Grant’s on the other side.

1977. Photo: London Metropolitan Archives. (https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/view-item?i=222396)

1977. Looking back towards St. Anne’s

Just out of view of the previous photos is The Star of the East pub, opened in the 1840s and still going strong.

The Star of the East pub.

Looking east from the pub, and the view was dominated by the Eastern Hotel, later renamed the Londoner (now closed and demolished)

The pub’s address was 2 East India Dock Road, and right of the pub from this angle is West India Dock Road – two more roads built by the docks company at the start of the 1800s. The Commercial Road ends here, 1.9 miles from Gardiner’s Corner.

Also here is a firm that had much business from the Lemmermans and other East End families over the decades, including when my grandparents, dad and sister died. The firm’s gone now.