Case Study: Old Nichol Clearance

On April 4^th, 1888, a prostitute named Emma Elizabeth Smith was admitted to the London Hospital by the deputy keeper of her common lodging house. The keeper told the house surgeon that Emma was allegedly assaulted by three men, but Smith fell into a comatose state and never woke up to confirm the story. Smith was considered to be the first victim of “Jack the Ripper” for quite some time, but historians now believe she was the victim of one of the nefarious gangs that preyed on women in the Old Nichol neighborhood. The “Old Nichol” was considered to be one of the worst slums in the East End of London, where Charles Booth indicated that a majority of the blocks were of the “lowest class…occasional labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals” (1889, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Nichol#/media/File:Poverty_map_old_nichol_1889.jpg). Thus, Booth’s map of the Old Nichol validates the concern of gang violence in the area. Compounded by poor living conditions, this was one of the first neighborhoods to be declared a “slum” by the London County Council and demolished in the early 20^th century.

In order for the neighborhood to be cleared and redeveloped, the London County Council arranged for a parliamentary devolution. In 1890, Parliament passed the Housing of the Working Class Act (1890, https://archive.org/details/housingworkingc00morggoog). The previous “Housing and Working Class Act” passed in 1885 allowed local government bodies to designate areas as slums, but did not give them the authority to legally demolish and renovate the areas. The London County Council used the provisions set forth in the 1890 Act to clear the Old Nichol; by destroying the worst slum in the East End, the newly-formed council demonstrated their power and efficiency.

The group tasked Owen Fleming with the renovation plans for the area. Fleming was a leading architect at the time and “believed the poor could appreciate beauty in architecture as much as the well-educated middle class” (Haines, “Boundary of Old Nichol’s Vice, Filth, and Death”, 2008). This explains why the new urban design replicated many features of suburban communities: tree-lined streets, radial planning, and public gathering areas. As the London County Council’s first major renovation project, the finished “Boundary Estate” complex was intended to rejuvenate life in the area. This is symbolically represented in the neighborhood’s grandstand, built with rubble from the Old Nichol neighborhood itself (1903, https://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2015/02/i875/boundary-estate-arnold-circus-1903.jpg).

Ironically, the “Boundary Estate” project exacerbated the city’s slum problem by displacing the originally inhabitants who could not afford rent in the new housing complex. The neighborhoods to the east of Old Nichol, Green Benthal and Dalston soon suffered from overcrowding (1900-1910, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Slum_children_bethnal_green.jpg) and the public health problems associated with high demographic density. Thus began the cycle of early 20^th century slum renovation in the city of London.