One of the most hilarious items relating to the Boundary Street Estate/Arnold Circus in the London County Council files (held at the London Metropolitan Archives) is this very long letter of complaint by one of the first residents to move into the Estate. (Note the early western use of the concept of feng shui. . .)

26 October 1896
Flat 6, Cleve Buildings, Calvert Avenue
“I have the misfortune to be a tenant of the LCC and occupy premises at the above address. The rent I pay for three living rooms and a shed in the rear is 25 shillings and 6d per week. I have reluctantly decided to withhold my rent as a protest against the state of affairs which I did not contemplate when I agreed to rent these premises. In opening a shop [Little’s Ham & Beef Shop at 10 Calvert Avenue] and developing a trade, we have spent over £150. We now find ourselves seriously handicapped owing to the delay in completing and populating the estate. Moreover, such is the wretched administration prevailing here that serious discontent exists among the tenants.

“I took these premises on the distinct understanding that the estate would by this time be fully occupied and that Calvert Avenue would be an important thoroughfare. The buildings are not completed. Work is in fact progressing at a quite leisurely rate – pleasant to those who dislike hurry, but very disheartening to those like myself who have spent their capital in the hope of deriving advantages from the completion of these buildings.

“As instancing the LCC method, I would mention the wall opposite my shop and enclosing the church [St Leonard’s]. The nucleus of this wall is a hoarding which is utilised as a public urinal by gentlemen and ladies – especially ladies. At night time, owing to the bad lighting of the street, not only is it convenient for that purpose but it also serves as a shelter for those desirous of sexual intercourse. It is also abused by the youths of the street (those perfectly finished articles manufactured in Board Schools) for pyrotechnic displays.

“Needless to say, the police do not officially patrol Calvert Avenue. There are no wealthy tradesmen in this street to make it worthwhile for any self-respecting bobby to include it in his beat. Hence street robbery is one of the natural activities of the neighbourhood.

“You may say, ‘What has this wall and hoarding to do with me?’ I reply that the hoarding is an abominable eyesore and spoils the ‘fengshui’ of the place. Besides, do I pay the LCC £70 per year for this? You must see that this filthy hoarding and this badly lighted street detract most materially from the value of business premises.

“Owing to that obscure craving for spurious art which distinguishes most popularly elected bodies and their architects, a debased form of art must needs be introduced into the design of these ‘blocks’. To use the jargon, the ‘treatment’ is ‘Elizabethan’. Hence a multitude of windows which can’t open and which are dangerous to clean; and, of course, no fanlights in the shop fronts – doubtless ‘picturesque’, but dirt and bad ventilation are the consequences.

“I don’t, as a rule, attach much, if any, value to female judgment, but I am bound to say that my wife protested against this place from the first and I now see that her opinion was only too sound.

“One of the alleged advantages offered to intending tenants is that of hot water. I require a deal of hot water in my business but there is an intermittent and uncertain supply due to bad design.

“The lighting of this building is simply execrable. The gas burners are not lit till late in the evening and are extinguished at about 2am. For many hours the building is in total darkness – a fact which is taken advantage of by thieves and other bad characters. I need hardly say that there is no night-watchman on the premises. Police protection – there is none.

“Talk of life on an emigrant ship! There is about as much privacy here as on board an ocean liner in steerage. This corridor arrangement is fatal to decency and privacy. One cannot hardly go to the WC without the fact being known to a dozen people. All hands perform their ablutions at the sink down which I observed a gentleman empty a useful but nameless chamber utensil.

“The corridors form convenient playgrounds for the children and a kind of social hall for ladies of a garrulous tendency. Those who like publicity and noise will find this building admirable. Those who like myself prefer quiet and privacy find it simply detestable.

“As a barracks or Salvation Army shelter or as a workhouse, it has distinct advantages as a residence. For quiet people, it abounds with objections. In its present form it ought never to have been built, and so I shall leave my humble home in Calvert Avenue with a dry eye.

“Yours truly,
George Herbert Little”

The very early photographs of the shops and housing at the Arnold Circus end of Calvert Avenue are held at the London Metropolitan Archives in a box with the shelfmark 28.75 BOU. London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1. Tel: 020 7332 3820
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx