EAW000535 ENGLAND (1946). Southwark and Great Dover Street, The Borough, from the south-east, 1946

Tucked in by the railway viaduct on Redcross Way, Cromwell Buildings, built in 1864, was an innovative form of housing that offered the lower paid good quality accommodation and also brought a modest but steady return to those who had invested. The model housing companies were formed against a background of a rapidly rising population in London where many had been made homeless by the building of new roads and railways, a problem that was intensified by huge numbers arriving from rural areas to seek work. This led to massive over-crowding in often insanitary living conditions. Just one room in a run down court or alley often accommodated a whole family and many of these ‘homes’ were not fit to live in. There was a growing awareness among the upper and middle classes of how the poor had to live and there was much discussion about ‘The Housing Problem’. The model, or industrial, housing companies, whose intentions were part philanthropic and part commercial, became known as the 5% philanthropists. One of these companies was the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, founded in 1863 by Sydney Waterlow. He and his brothers had inherited a stationery company which under his leadership expanded and grew in prominence. He entered politics, starting as a city councillor, became an alderman, Lord Mayor of London and entered Parliament and had received a knighthood.His first building project was as a private philanthropist with a development in Mark Lane, Finsbury. After this proved successful he launched the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company (IIDC) with the aim of developing easily built housing for artisans to be let at rents that would produce a steady return of 5% to investors. This proved attractive to many investors and in 1864 Cromwell Buildings, the first IIDC block, was built in Red Cross Street, just off the newly built Southwark Street and facing the newly built railway viaduct. Compared with later model dwelling blocks, the scale was small and is described in the IIDC Register of Estates as “One block having a basement storey and five storeys above and containing 24 tenements viz 10 of four rooms, 12 of 3 rooms and 2 shops.”

Anchor Brewery Southwark

The first resident of 23 Park Street, Southwark, was somewhat less celebrated, though he would have been considered a well-heeled character at the time. Charles Spurrell had spent 12 years working for the East India Company, the world's biggest trading conglomerate, which then controlled much of India, before he opted to settle in Southwark at the start of the 19th century.It was a period when beer was both immensely popular and profitable, buoyed by the fact that safe drinking water was still scarce. Spurrell landed a plum position with one of the world's largest brewers, Barclay, Perkins and Co. In fact, when Spurrell joined, the firm was London's most productive, its Anchor Brewery close to the south bank of the Thames producing 330,000 barrels a year.Spurrell excelled, quickly becoming a director and, aged 37, was rewarded with 23 Park Street, an 1820 newbuild situated close to the brewery entrance for which the owners, including David Barclay, abolitionist, philanthropist and co-founder of Barclays Bank, charged him an annual rent of £25.Jonathan Spurrell, great-great-grandson of Frederick, one of Charles's children born at 23 Park Street, said that today's valuation of the property reflects the fact that only a decent house would be considered fitting for a senior figure in the brewing industry when it was constructed. "A lot of brewers became MPs, they were considered quite respectable members of society. In fact Charles later became a magistrate," said Jonathan, who has spent years meticulously researching his family history.After 15 years in Park Street, Spurrell moved 100m north to Anchor Terrace, another new-build for the brewery directors, but the superior location of which, on Southwark Bridge Road, was reflected in an annual rent increase to £63. The elegant terrace, also still standing, occupies the ground upon which Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre once stood.

The Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, 21/05/2014

The County Fire Office, Piccadilly Circus, 21/05/2014

Palace of Westminster, 21/05/2014

Horse Guards Avenue, 21/05/2014

Whitehall Court, 21/05/2014

Somerset House

University of London Senate House

Trinity Church Square and Henry Wood Hall

Shell Mex House

Waterloo Bridge

Cleopatra's Needle

Unilever House

War Memorial

Christ Church and Upton Chapel

Saint John's Church Waterloo

Saint Dunstan in the West

Somerset House

Henry Wood Hall

shot tower

War Memorial

Westminster Bridge

British Museum

Saint George the Martyr at Borough

Horse Guards Parade

Royal Courts of Justice

Saint Clement Danes

Saint Mary le Strand

Temple Church

Saint Brides

Lincoln's Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn

New Blackfriars Station on the Bridge 2013

Borough Market

Old Hop Exchange Southwark Street

Southwark Street

Masonic Temple

Sumner Street

Oxo Tower

Blackfriars Road and Railway Bridges

City of London School

Saint James's Park

Charing Cross Railway Station

Saint Martin in the Fields

Waterloo Railway Station

Waterloo Bridge

Hungerford (Jubilee) Bridge

Saint Thomas Hospital

County Hall

Houses of Parliament