It was formerly known as Juniper Row (until 1894) and originally ran east as far as Glamis Road and west to Shadwell Street. It was laid out in the 1820s over an area of rope walks called Sun Tavern Fields. Sun Tavern Fields were described in The Environs of London (published in 1795) as “The only land not occupied by buildings consists of a few acres, …, in which are several rope-walks, 400 yards in length, where cables are made from six to 23 inches in girth.”
Sun Tavern Fields had laid open partly due to the ’Shadwell Spa’, a mineral water “of a very powerful nature” discovered in the eighteenth century by Walter Berry who sank a well in the fields. It is said to be “impregnated with sulphur, vitriol, steel and antimony”.
Once built following the line of a rope walk, Juniper Street became mostly a densely-urbanised residential working class street. There was a fire station on the corner of Glamis Road and a police station on the corner of King David Lane. Along the street was, mid-twentieth century, a paper works. Before that it was a leather works in which the residents of the terraces of the ’Juniper Row Buildings’ found employment.
Juniper Street was a location used in the movie ’To Sir With Love’ – the row of terraced houses where the children finally turn up for the funeral.
Juniper Street was redeveloped with the arrival of the Glamis Estate in the 1970s – only the stump at the King David Lane end still exists.
