Arbour Square Gardens

Arbour Square, along with West Arbour Street, East Arbour Street and Arbour Terrace, was built on land belonging to the Mystery of Mercer/Mercers Company, the name of the square derived from the company's 12 acre Arbour Field. The central garden was originally surrounded by 3-storey houses that were built between 1819 and 1830. The north side of the square was acquired by Stepney Borough Council in 1921 with the intention of building a Town Hall; a design competition for the new building had been won by Briggs Wolstenhome and Thornely in 1909. However, this was never built and eventually the north terrace was demolished by the Borough Council to build flats in 1937. The east side terrace had also been replaced by a school building in 1913 when Raine's Foundation Schools (founded by Henry Raine in 1719) moved here from Cannon Street Road. When Raine's School moved to Bethnal Green in 1985 the figures of a boy and a girl that had stood in niches over the side entrances to separate playgrounds at the back were removed but replicas were placed in the niches of the original school building in 1988.

In 1904 Arbour Square Gardens was opened to the public by the London County Council (LCC). Still in the ownership of the Mercers Company as Trustees of a Foundation called or known as 'St Paul's School' founded by Dean Colet, the garden, like that of York Square (q.v.), was leased to the LCC on a yearly tenancy of 5s per annum. In 1928 the garden was described as 'a square-shaped enclosure surrounded by a privet hedge and shrubbery. Attractively laid out with broad asphalt paths, lawns and flower beds. Contains some well-grown trees.'

The garden was completely refurbished in 1995 in a formal style with numerous ornamental beds within a central oval lawn behind low railings, which has a paved pathway around it. There is some planting around the perimeter, new seating, and an area to the south with a series of trellis screens, seating and shrubbery.