The City of London- London’s Historic and Commercial Heart

Established by the Romans around 47 AD as Londinium, the City of London forms the historic core of the wider London metropolis. Given its history as a walled City for 1700 years, the City of London has retained its unique local authority led by the Lord Mayor of London. The City of London contained what was considered all of London until the late 17th century when the Great Fire prompted the great expansion of the City (esp. to the west). As railroads prompted the rapid expansion across London’s vast suburbs during the 19th century, the City’s population fell rapidly. Many residential buildings were demolished to make way for office blocks as the City of London established itself as one of the great commercial & financial centers of the world. The City of London’s population rapidly declined from 132K in 1850 to 32K in 1900.

The City transformed again during WW II with the highly destructive Blitz bombing of 1940. Large swathes of the City were destroyed leading to a major rebuilding program in the decades following the war and creating large block developments like the Barbican complex. However, many of the smaller historic buildings of London survived and are still in tact today. The 2000s brought another wave of large commercial developments leading to many high-rises like the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie Bldg concentrated in the northern and eastern parts of the City. By 2020 the City’s office population had reached nearly 550K and since the pandemic has increased to almost 700K. The City has also seen a modest increase in residents. Since it’s historic low of 4K in 1990 the City of London reached nearly 15K residents in 2023.

From an urban perspective the City of London is a strange combination of an European medieval street network and an American hodgepodge of historic and modern buildings plus a sprinkling of pre 19th century buildings of all London’s remaining landmarks. The City has a curious mix of very narrow historic streets with small commercial buildings and large modern blocks and skyscrapers. The key area for improvement in the City of London include more permanent residents to complement its great concentration of daytime workers. I’d also like to see improvements to the City’s walkability & livability with the creation of more pedestrian streets on par with most European cities, more consistent bike lanes, park expansions, and more restaurants & bars.

Click here to view my City of London Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Includes incredible landmarks such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Temple Church Complex, Bank Junction, Leadenhall Market, the Walkie Talkie Bldg, The Gherkin, the Lloyd’s Building, Tower of London, Monument to the Great Fire of London, Barbican Complex, the St Bartholomew’s Complex, Smithfield Market, Finsbury Circus Gardens, Liverpool Street Station, Guild Hall, Smithfield Market, small remaining segments of the London Wall, and countless saved or constructed historic churches since the Great Fire of 1666.
* Very mixed fabric of historic and in-fill. I particularly liked the plentiful small flat iron bldgs created by all the diagonal streets.
* Lots of intimate and narrow streets which is very different than most American dwtn’s filled with wide arterials.
* Several extensive shopping malls. (i.e. One New Change, New Street Square, the Royal Exchange, Broad Gate Circle.
* Lots of small parks and plazas tucked into hidden spaces or located at historic sites.
* Incredible employment hub hosting roughly 700K jobs. This has grown by over 100K since the pandemic.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Some pedestrian or semi-pedestrian streets but underwhelming compared to other European Center Centers.
* This is also a very 9-5 Downtown esp. for a European Historic Center. Much less vibrant than adjacent London Inner City neighborhoods.
* While the streets are still very medieval in lay out, much of the historic (post WW-II) buildings have been replaced by modern buildings and many blocks went through urban renewal or had to be replaced after the London Bombing of 1940. This is very different than most European cities and feels much more American with lots of dead and cold parts of Dwtn.
* Lacks medium to large park spaces and economic civic gathering spaces that can really mark a Center City area.
* Better bike lane coverage than most inner London neighborhoods but segments are small and broken up and rarely protected bike lanes. Regardless still a good amount of cycling occurs in Central London.
* Tree canopy is pretty limited.
* Not great population for a Central City European area at around 8-9K residents for just over a square mile.

Shoreditch- Historic Entertainment District, now Gentrified East London Neighborhood

Shoreditch really got its start as an important centre of Elizabethan theatre in the 16th given its location just outside of the rather Puritanical laws of the City of London. Shoreditch has continued to be an important entertainment centre since that time. The east–west course of Old Street–Hackney Road, which runs along the north border of Shoreditch, was originally an important Roman Road connecting London to the countryside. During the 17th century, Shoreditch started to develop with wealthy traders and French Huguenot silk weavers moving into the area establishing a textile industry. By the 19th century, Shoreditch transitioned into a hub for the furniture industry. These industries, however, declined in the late 19th century.

During the turn of the 19th century, Shoreditch was a centre of entertainment to rival the West End and had many theatres and music halls. However this was not to last as Shoreditch was heavily bombed during the Second World War loosing much of its historic housing stock and the neighborhood faced significant decline in the post War era as both its textile and furniture industries declined. Shoreditch remained an underinvested community until the 1990s when the area became fashionable again with a strong association with the creative industries. Since the 2000s Shoreditch and Old Street have become popular with London-based web technology companies centered around the East London Tech City district near the Old Street tube station.

From an urban perspective Shoreditch is a lovely, heavily mixed-use area with an interesting mix of smaller scale historic blocks and larger modern infill. The area has great access to the Tube system and is located just north of the City of London. Shoreditch has great access to all the market destinations of Spitalfields while avoiding the crowds. The Old Street Corridor continues just west of Shoreditch and hosts a solid commercial district and several more intimated mixed use lanes.

Click here to view my Shoreditch Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good biz districts along Curtain and some excellent narrow mixed use streets perpendicular to it (Rivington & Charlotte Rd)
*Very eclectic neighborhood. More Dwtn feel on the southern edge. Mix of mid century, modern infill and traditional East London rowhouses. Most of the district has a strong mixed-use feel.
* Some cool commercial uses along Great Eastern/ Old St and Whitecross Street.
* Several nice mixed-use streets in the western edge of Shoreditch (i.e. Leonard and Paul)
* Boundary Gardens is great urban park with attractive brick terrace housing surrounding it and surrounding blocks. The development was built in the late 19th century as part of a slum clearing effort.
* Much less touristy than adjacent Spitalfields.
* Several subway lines serve the neighborhood at Shoreditch High St Station. Old Street also has a tube stop along Black Line.
* Solid density around 40K residents per square mile.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Better park space and tree canopy than Spitalfields but still not great.
Seems to be a lot of biking activity even though dedicated bike lanes are in short supply.

Spitalfields- Historic East London Neighborhood Filled with Historic and Modern Markets and Layers of History

Historic Spitalfields, or at least the earliest connection to its current name, was the St Mary Spital, a priory/ hospital (a lodging for travelers run by a religious order) erected on the east side of the Bishopsgate thoroughfare in 1197. Spitalfields consisted mainly of fields and nursery gardens until its development in the late 17th century. The infamous and still active Spitalfields Market was established in 1638 by Charles 1. Development came to Spitalfields in the late 17th century with the arrival of French Huguenots fleeing religious oppression in France. The Huguenots came with expertise in the silk industry quickly establishing a vibrant industry in the neighborhood. Shortly after Spitalfields became an independent parish in 1729 located just outside the City of London. By the Victorian era, the silk industry entered a long period of decline and the old Huguenot merchant dwellings degenerated into multi-occupied slums. Spitalfields became a by-word for urban deprivation and hosted several of the Jack the Ripper murders. But life in Spitalfields continued on and welcomed new immigrants including large numbers as Eastern European Jews in the 1800s who specialized in furniture making and tailoring and repopulated many of the large Huguenot houses. By the mid 20th century mainly Bangladeshi immigrants moved into the neighborhood also picking up work in the local textile industry and made Brick Lane the curry capital of London. Spitalfields continued to attract large numbers of immigrants throughout the 20th century and by 1981 at least 60% of households were of minority ethnic origin.

Spitalfields’s regeneration was really seeded in the 1970s with a local campaign to save the housing stock of old merchant terraces west of Brick Lane from demolition. Many have been conserved by the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust. Spitalfields continued to gentrify into the early 21st century welcoming several new large office blocks built near Bishopsgate, Aldgate, and Spitalfields Market and a reemergence of the strength of its historic markets (i.e. Spitalfields, Petticoat Lane) complimented with newer markets and modern makers & creators. Spitalfields has become the top destination in East London, attracting thousands of visitors every day, but still retains much of its historic charm of busy markets, gritty streets, and narrow lanes filled with layers and layers of history. Most of the newer apartments and office towers have remained on the edges of the district, not taking too much away from its charm and historic scale.

Click here to view my Spitalfields Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Dense district for London standards at about 42K people per square mile.
* Very active mixed-use district which draws large numbers of tourist and Londoners from outside the neighborhood.
* Several great markets located here starting with the historic Spitalfields Market. The Truman Brewery Markets is a weekly outdoor market place. Petticoat Lane is historic market going back to the 1650s spanning Middlesex Street, Wentworth Street, and all of the lanes in between. Backyard Market is a newer community-driven platform that provides a dedicated space for emerging artists and entrepreneurs.
* Commercial street is really interesting and includings mostly intact 18th & 19th century brick East End commercial bldgs.
* Princelet St is a very gritty narrow commercial street/Brick Lane. Very interesting. Lots of Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants. Lots of interesting and gritty streets that come off of this.
* Lots of cool and intimate mixed-use alleys (i.e. Artillery Psge, Widegate St
Some really cool landmarks including: Christ Church Spitalfields.
* Great graffit art along Grey Eagle St.
* While there are no subways stops within Spitalfields, there are plenty of stops on all sides of the district connecting the neighborhood well to the rest of London.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

A real hodgepodge of architectural styles. Not a terrible thing as most buildings have good urban form (even the uglier mid-century bldgs).
A bit too gritty for some. Spitalfields market can get incredibly congested which isn’t everyone’s pace.
A tree canopy is pretty much non existent.
Several nice smaller plazas spread throughout (Aldgate plaza, Bishop Square, Elder Gardens) but really no medium to large sized parks.
Bike shares are plentiful but dedicated bike lanes are very limited.”