The 1890 Housing Act made it the responsibility of local councils to provide decent accommodation for local people. Some of the first council houses were built in Bethell Avenue in the 1890s.

Many of the terraced houses built during the last half of the nineteenth century were little more than slums. During the 1930s the council began a programme of slum clearances, replacing the terraces with the first ‘high rise’ blocks. Almost 85% of Canning Town’s housing stock was later to be destroyed in the Blitz.

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Tom McAllister
The Old Dispensary
30 Romford Road, Stratford
London E15 4BZ
Tel: 020 8430 6393 Fax: 020 8430 6392

Last updated 17 February 2003