Description
The Holland Estate consists of former LCC and Tower Hamlets Council housing in the Spitalfields area built from 1927 onwards. Among the interwar buildings are three 4-storey Neo-Georgian blocks, Carter House, Brune House and Bernard House, ranged around a courtyard garden with a fourth 3-storey building, Barnett House in the centre facing onto Bell Lane. This communal garden is now Holland Estate Residents' Garden, which was refurbished in spring 2010 with part-funding under Section 106 from LB Tower Hamlets. The garden consists of areas of lawn and paving, raised beds and a number of trees.
Practical Information
| Site location | Bell Lane |
|---|---|
| Postcode | E1 7NP |
| What3Words | ///bunk.gains.cycles |
| Type of Site | Public Gardens |
| Borough | Tower Hamlets |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted |
| Research Updated | 1 March 2015 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
By the mid-C19th this area suffered from severe over-crowding and in the interwar years the LCC had begun building what became the Holland Estate. The earliest buildings are Brune, Bernard and Carter Houses all dating from 1927, followed by Barnett House (1933), Herbert and Jacobson Houses (1935) and Wheler House (1937). After World War II more accommodation was built over the decades, including Denning Point in 1967 and New Wentworth Dwellings in 1987. In October 2006 the 11 blocks that made up the Holland Estate were formally transferred to Eastend Homes by LB Tower Hamlets, and an estate-wide regeneration scheme was drawn up, gaining full planning permission in April 2010. The whole estate is being brought to Decent Homes standards as well as being improved in terms of access, security, refuse management and general landscaping. The residents' garden was part of this scheme, which included other external works such as improved landscaping and communal areas.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ336815 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | East End Homes |
| Dates | 1927-33; 2010 |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Tower Hamlets |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Area of Archaeological Importance |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Christ Church Spitalfields was built 1714-1729 following the 1711 Fifty New Churches Act with money raised by tax on coal. Its churchyard was much larger than the present garden, the original ground enlarged in the late C18th and mid C19th when it extended from Brick Lane to Commercial Road and used for some 67,000 burials.
Cutlers Gardens, a C20th office, retail and residential development with generous landscaping, is on a historic site. From C2nd to C4th the area was used for burials and later rubbish pits; in the C10th the land was granted to 13 medieval knights, known as the Cnihtengild, who held it until 1108 when Holy Trinity Priory was founded at Aldgate and the monks had a convent garden here. This was built over by the C16th and by 1700 the area was covered with tenements, workshops and small industries. In 1768 the East India Company began purchasing land here and built warehouses, expanding its property over the years. In 1833 the Company's trade monopoly with China ended and St Katharine's Dock Company purchased the warehouses, which in 1909 transferred to the Port of London Authority who used them until 1976. Commercial development of the site began in 1978, a combination of new build and restoration of some of the old buildings, with generous landscaping part of the scheme.
Cock Hill is an alley leading from New Street that forms the east side of the small courtyard of No. 21 New Street. The building was formerly a wool warehouse built for the Coopers' Company in the 1860s and later converted to offices in the 1980s. The entrance archway to the small courtyard has a distinctive free-standing ram over the gate. Within the courtyard is a fountain, planting and some tubs.
