The Whole of It
Limehouse is known these days for its contemporary high rise Thameside developments but venture inland and you’ll soon discover this part of east London is steeped in history. The grounds of St Dunstan and All Saints Church cover almost three hectares – as an outer suburb of historic London with space to spare they were used for mass burials during the Great Plague of 1665. More recently, the original Chinatown was in Limehouse so up until the 1970s that’s where you headed to for some mapo tofu.
Opposite the church are Lady Mico’s Almshouses. She was the widow of Sir Michael Mico, a mercer who traded across the Mediterranean in the early to mid 17th century. Known for her charitable works, Lady Mico left a bequest in her 1670 will for the building of the almshouses which were completed 21 years later. The terrace was rebuilt in 1856 to the design of George Smith for the Mercers’ Company. Greyish white brick (darkened with age) distinguishes it from the surrounding mainly red brick houses. The end houses are entered from the side elevations and the eight houses in between have paired porches, so giving the illusion of being four double fronted cottages. Three of the houses were carefully rebuilt in 1951 after being destroyed in World War II.
In 1823 a surveyor George Smith drew up plans to redevelop the area to the south of the almshouses. The land was also owned by the Mercers’ Company, the guild for dealers in textiles. Just five years later, the development was completed. York Square with its leafy green forms the focal point of a grid of streets. The red brick terraced houses are mainly two bay two storey (apart from mansards on York Square) with front doors opening off the pavement and decent sized gardens to the rear. Butterfly roofs are hidden from the streetscape by parapets, a common townhouse style for London (Roupell Street in Waterloo is unusual for having no front parapets). Rear elevations are surprisingly uniform.
These houses are what the woman on the street or the man on the No.37 to Clapham refers to as “Georgian”. The well proportioned brick facades; the regular street rhythm; the familiar 12 pane sash windows. Except they’re not technically Georgian but really late Regency or very early Victorian. Whatever their categorisation, they’re a lesson in the lost art of townhouse building. Sustainable, efficient and very easy on the eye.
Six of these houses were demolished in 1862 to make way for the Limehouse District Board of Works Offices. The building was designed by the Board’s surveyor Charles Dunch and built at a cost of £5,172 over the following two years. Occupied by the Half Moon Theatre since 1994, this building couldn’t contrast more if it tried to with the surrounding George Smith’s architecture. It’s bombastic in scale (almost double height storeys), style (decorative Italianate) and material (bright stucco).
