As the sun rises over Chrisp Street Market, the area feels suspended between night and day – in the same way as the buildings here are suspended between the present and the future.
Designed by Frederick Gibberd and built as part of the Festival of Britain Exhibition of Architecture in 1951, the modernist blocks by the market may soon be pulled down to make way for new housing, retail and leisure facilities.
Although the planning has not been formally agreed, the website of The Architects’ Journal states that Telford Homes Plc and housing association Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association (HARCA) will begin redevelopment in 2018.
In July The East End Citizen reported a demonstration by locals angry that they had not been adequately consulted, and afraid that the plans will reduce the amount of social housing available, which HARCA denies.
However things eventually pan out, Chrisp Street at dawn certainly feels like a place poised on the brink of change. The way that Canary Wharf looms over the skyline not far away makes you think that it might be rolling this way soon.
