TO BRIGHTEN LONDON'S EAST END

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 6

TO BRIGHTEN LONDON'S EAST END

■ ■ _—h> ——^-.-. ■ ■ { boulevard, civic centre, and \ ' river esplanade. • | An ambitious scheme for rebuilding a, , portion of the Bast End lying' between „ the city borders and the river has been projected .(states the "Daily News"), the j prime mover in ■ the matter being Mr. j Kiley, M.P., for Whiteohapcl, with whom j is associated Sir Richard Stapley and j Mr John Nicholson. It involves the j electrification of the Tilbury and Southend Railway, which runs through the urea, and placing it underground, to- ;. Kether with Fenchurch . Street Station, j, its terminus, and the creation above it g of tbe finest boulevard in London a t mile and a half long and 30ft. wide. „ This would remove a good deal of sluin t property and provide a much-needed new j tram route. • . ~. . . , - ; . It is contended that no practical dim- j cnlties exist for this. pn>3ect, for- the t railway would be a shallow subway link- „ ing up with the Underground.' A 15- s acre goods yard for the Midland, G.N., fi L". and N.W., and the London, Tilbury, <, and Southend lines, which each have s their own yards at present, is n part of t , the.scheme. 'This would extend from s the boulevard, where the offices would f be, to Commercial Road, Alie Street, and „ Leman Street. .' o Already Messrs. Thomas H. Mafrson j and Sons, who have submitted an elabor- t ate report with plans, have named the •„ boulevard "Stepney Greeting." North ( of it, Watney Street would be straight- , ened, and an open space created for an , open air market to tako the place of the j. coster stalls which at present congest the ( road. A town garden would also be j, foiiued,' with f. children's playground in j place of a block of buildings. South of Stepney Greeting new ruads would be ~ built and o'ld ones widened, oud would ,j connect the boulevard.with the King Edward Memorial Park in Shadwell Old Market, the • formation of which is in abeyance owing to the war. 'An open view would be obtained here u\er tue new park and the river, completely transforming a 6lura area. An entire reconstruction of the water J front is proposed, vdiich woul'd place, j tho warehouses in blocks and create a ' riverside esplanade ltjft. above tho level of the quay.- An extejisioif of this es- e the Tower Bridge is also sug- j gestcd. < ' An interesting part of the scheme is | tho proposal to form a civic centre < abutting on the boulevard, where a J town hall would.be erected, a town gar- 1 den laid out, and in a square opposite ' would be n campaiiilo 250 ft. high as a c vnr monument. At the city ' end of ? the bOLilevnrd It is susseslod that a f building be erected for the- Consular 1 .services, and this, with the new, block of t dock offices now .bsins' built on Tower . lull J-iid Trinity House, would form i an imposing group. A people's palace i ill: ilic other end of Hie boulevard is \ also part of the scheme. t Naturally, such a grandioso trans- I formation of an important and congested 1 area will provide for rehousing, and it 1 is proposed that o large building estate f should be developed cast of Harking sla- 1 tiim. Ulocks of Hats should b.o built, 1 Willi comimuinl dining-room, kilchnu, s imimlr.Y. etc., in the basement. Another "i novel feature is a block of fiats with t workrooms on the roof. | 1