Brushfield Street, E1

Paternoster Row, originally depicted as an unnamed road in 1676, was situated on the south side of “Spittlefield” and ran between Crispin Street and Red Lion Street. By the early 18th century, it had acquired the name Little Paternoster, later becoming known as Paternoster Row.

In the latter half of the 18th century, the street was extended westward to Bishopsgate. This extension cut through Crispin Street, Gun Street, Steward Street, and Duke Street (later Fort Street) and was named Union Street.

The north side of Paternoster Row was, and to some extent still is, dominated by the buildings of Spitalfields Market. On 25 February 1870, the street was renamed Brushfield Street in honor of Thomas Brushfield, a Justice of the Peace and prominent Vestryman who was involved with the London Dispensary in Fournier Street. Prior to the name change, Thomas Tempany, the owner of Mr. Tenpenny’s Lodging House in Gun Street, resided at 6 Paternoster Row.

At 21 Brushfield Street, there stood the Prince Albert pub, which was preceded by the Black Horse Inn in earlier times.

In the 1920s, significant alterations were made to much of Brushfield Street, except for the 19th-century buildings of Spitalfields Market. The London Fruit Exchange was constructed on the south side in 1928, and additional market buildings were erected on the north side around the same period. However, these later market buildings were demolished in the 1990s, and from 2001 to 2005, the large office and retail development known as Bishop’s Square took their place.

Several 18th-century buildings still survive on the south side of Brushfield Street, with many of them now housing restaurants or cafes. At the western end, you can see the rear frontages of the Bishopsgate Institute, which was built in 1895.





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