George Yard Buildings was a lodging house erected around 1875.
It stood near the western corner of George Yard and Wentworth Street and it was built on the site of New Court and a former timber yard after the Metropolitan Board of Works cleared the area’s slums.
The structure’s interior layout remains largely unknown, but it featured a central entrance arch leading to communal staircases that provided access to upper floor rooms. The building had four storeys in total, with 48 separate lodgings. Three concrete balconies at the rear allowed access to rooms at the back. While staircases were lit, lights were typically extinguished at 11pm. In 1888, the building housed members of the ’poor labouring class’. During the Whitechapel murder that year, Martha Tabram’s body was discovered on the first-floor landing by John Reeves, a resident of No.37.
In 1890, the dwellings were repurposed as lodgings for Toynbee Hall settlement students and renamed Balliol House. A small dining hall was added to the rear, and it was later renamed ’Charles Booth House’.
George Yard Buildings, along with neighbouring St George’s House, were demolished in January 1973. Sunley House now stands in their place.
George Yard Buildings was a lodging house erected around 1875.
