Whitechapel High Street is a street in the Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. It is about 0.2 miles (350 m) long, making it "one of the shortest high streets in London". It links Aldgate High Street to the south-west with Whitechapel Road to the north-east, and includes junctions with Commercial Street to the north and Commercial Road to the east.
For motorists, it is the start of the A11 from London to Norwich. For cyclists, it is the start of Cycleway 2 from Aldgate to Stratford. For pedestrians, it is a route from Aldgate tube station to Brick Lane.
"Whitechapel High Street provides a transition between the commercial development pressures from the City and the historic east end communities." The street has many narrow plots with 3–5 storey buildings, rebuilt and enlarged at different times in different styles. It was designated a conservation area in 2007.
In 2015 it was named by the Royal Society for Public Health as London's most unhealthy high street, having the highest concentration of fast-food outlets, payday lenders, bookmakers and tanning salons.
History Whitechapel High Street follows part of a Roman road, presumed to have continued to Colchester. A major Roman cemetery was located along the street.
In the medieval period the street was known as Algatestreet. It was a major thoroughfare to and from the City of London. Settlement in the area probably began in the 13th century.
The name "Whitechapel" refers to a chapel of ease in the parish of Stepney that was built in the mid-13th century in the area that is now Altab Ali Park on Whitechapel Road. The church was named St Mary Matfelon, but commonly known as the "White Chapel", referring to the colour of its white chalk rubble walls.
Early maps such as the Agas map show that by the mid-16th century the street had a continuous frontage of mostly 2-storey timber-framed houses with fields behind. Remains of the Boar's Head Inn, which included the site of the Boar's Head Theatre from 1598 to 1616, were found beneath the Unite Students building (No 141–143).
John Stow's Survey of London in 1603 complained that the street was "pestered" with cottages and alleys, concluding that the "unsavoury" passage to Aldgate was "no small blemish to so famous a city". Morgan's map of 1682 shows "White Chapel Street" extending from Aldgate to St Mary's Church, with numerous narrow alleys leading to courtyards or fields behind the street. Some still remain, such as Angel Alley (No 84) and Gunthorpe Street (No 88). While no buildings survive from this period, later buildings such as No 85 and Nos 91–93 reused their extremely narrow plots, preserving their cramped character. By 1746, Roque's map shows the land behind the street was entirely built up.
In contrast to the buildings, the street itself was wide. Maitland's Survey of London of 1756 describes it as "a spacious Street for Entrance into the City Eastward … accommodated with good Inns for the Reception of Travellers, Horses, Coaches, Waggons, &c [and] a great many Butchers, who carry on a great Trade, both Wholesale and Retail". The oldest remaining inn is the White Hart (No 89) from 1721.
Carey's map of 1795 introduced the modern name "White Chapel High Street" for the part of the street outside the City of London boundary; Whitechapel Road for the western part beginning at St Mary's Church; and Aldgate High Street for the eastern part between the city boundary and the old Roman wall. By 1810 there were 148 numbered buildings.
"Whitechapel High Street was lined with coaching inns; the road was full of traffic, carts with garden produce, market women with baskets of fruit, flocks of sheet, herds of cattle, brewers' drays and hay wains for the hay market." From at least 1665 until 1928, in the Whitechapel hay market, farmers sold animal fodder from large carts in the street.
In the late 18th and early 19th century the street was lined with 4-storey brick shop-houses, still visible at Nos 65–68, 74–76 and 128–129. It became a traffic intersection. Commercial Road was created in 1802–4 to link the docks with the City. The southern section of Commercial Street was created in 1843–5 as part of a slum clearance programme, and to connect Whitechapel High Street with Spitalfields Market. The Whitechapel to Bow tramway opened in 1870. In 1884 the District Railway extended its underground service through Aldgate East to Whitechapel station.
As London's population increased during the 19th century, and Whitechapel as a whole suffered poverty and overcrowding, the high street remained relatively prosperous. It shows as a narrow strip of "middle class – well-to-do" housing on Booth's poverty map of 1889. Victorian era philanthropic improvements included the ornate Passmore Edwards Library and the Whitechapel Gallery. Grand Edwardian era buildings remain at Nos 90, 102–5 and 126–7.
Many Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe to Whitechapel during 1880–1914 found work in the clothing industry, and the high street became their shop window. Clothing and footwear accounted for one-third of the 144 businesses listed on the street in 1921. The last remaining ones are at No 65a, 88 and 102–5. The largest was Gardiner's department store (Nos 31–35), which opened in the 1870s and was destroyed by fire in 1972. The traffic intersection became known as Gardiner's Corner. In 1936 a fascist march into the East End was blocked there in the Battle of Cable Street. One of the few remaining signs of the Jewish presence is a Star of David on the former Jewish Daily Post building (No 88).
Like much of the East End, Whitechapel High Street was extensively damaged by the blitz during World War II. Some buildings were repaired in their original style; others were rebuilt during the 1950s in plain utilitarian style, such as No 83, 87 and 94. Some sites, such as No 97, remained empty for decades. Rising property prices have encouraged repair and rebuilding, and few signs of the blitz remain. One notable absence is St Mary's Church, which was gutted by a fire bomb in 1940 and demolished in 1952.
In the 1960s the street became one-way as part of the Aldgate Gyratory, isolating the buildings on the south side as far as Gardiner's department store in the centre of a large roundabout with return flow along Braham Street. Large concrete and glass office buildings occupied this area, creating a "sense of desolation and insecurity for pedestrians". The gyratory system was removed in 2008, and Whitechapel High Street became two-way again. Tall office and apartment buildings were combined with attempts to improve the street level environment.
Buildings South Side Starts at: Mansell Street
The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street – an 8-storey office building, designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, built in 1982–1984. It has a prominent grid of chamfered mullions and floorbands, with polished granite cladding. The tall storey heights allowed raised flooring to conceal computer wiring. The building was originally known as Sedgewick Centre, and was occupied by Royal Bank of Scotland during 2005–15.
Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman Street – an 18-storey office building, designed by WilkinsonEyre, built in 2013–14. It has a curved glass façade over a steel frame and grey columns at ground level.
Side street: Leman Street
Construction site – planned 6-storey and 25-storey office buildings, part of the Aldgate Place development. The site was once Gardiners' department store.
Side street: Commercial Road
Central House – a 6-storey flatted factory, designed by Lush & Lester, built in 1964–65. It is built in a modernist style with visible reinforced concrete frame and glass bands, and known as the "Aldgate Bauhaus". It was occupied by textile factories and the Cass School of Art and Architecture of the London Metropolitan University. An extension built in 2020–22 will add a further 6 storeys of office space. Designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and inspired by Rachel Whiteread's Fourth Plinth, the extension adds an equal volume that mimics the horizontal banding of the original.
65a Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey commercial building, built c1897 in Victorian style in red brick with Portland stone dressings.
65–68 Whitechapel High Street – a terrace of four 4-storey 2-bay shop-houses, built in 1853 in Georgian style in stock brick with Portland stone dressings and a gambrel roof concealed by a parapet. It was refurbished in 2010–12.
69–70 Whitechapel High Street – two 4-storey shop-houses, built in 1908–11, refurbished in 2005–10.
71 Whitechapel High Street – a 3-storey warehouse-showroom, built in 1983 in red brick, converted to a college 1998. A top floor was added c2020 and as of 2025 the ground floor is occupied by a Turkish coffee and dessert shop.
Ends at: White Church Lane
North Side
Starts at: Osborn Street
74 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey corner shop-house, built 1828–29 in brick (now painted white). In 2001 the ground floor was converted to a restaurant and the upper floors to flats.
75 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey 3-bay shop-house, possibly built in the early 19th century, in stock brick with red brick lintels. It has been an electrical wholesaler since c2002.
76 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey 2-bay shop-house, built in 1845 in stock brick with stucco window frames, lintels and cornice. It has been an electrical wholesaler since c1975.
Former Passmore Edwards Library – a 4-storey public library designed by Potts, Son & Hennings in Jacobethan style in red brick with terracotta dressings. One of the earliest public libraries in London, it was funded by philanthropist John Passmore Edwards and opened in 1892. It became part of the Whitechapel Gallery in 2009.
Whitechapel Gallery – designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in an Art Nouveau style, built in 1898–99 in buff terracotta.
83 Whitechapel High Street – a 5-storey single-bay commercial building, built in 1957 in red brick. The upper floors were converted to flats in 2007. The ground floor is a café.
84 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey single-bay commercial building, built in 1957 in red brick. It retains its original triplet windows within thin concrete frames and thick flat mullions. The ground floor is a fast food restaurant. The building steps over Angel Alley.
84a Whitechapel High Street - the eastern side of Angel Alley, was, until 1942, leased by Express Printers, which became defunct. In 1942 Freedom Press, the oldest anarchist publisher in the English language, bought from the landlord all of the printing equipment which was housed in the basement, the ground floor and the first floor of the building, and took a lease out on the building. Until the late 1960s, it was 'a slum property with its quote of rats and damp'. In 1968 anarchist Vernon Richards bought it with 84bGoodway, David (2019). 'Introduction'. In and 84c. Then, with the help of volunteers, Freedom Press moved the contents of its office and stockroom from its short-term premises (a shop and offices) in Maxwell Road, Fulham to 84a, temporarily, because of its intention to make 84b its permanent quarters. In 1982 84a was sold to the Whitechapel Gallery.Goodway 2019, p.12.
84b Whitechapel High Street - the western side of Angel Alley, was in 1942, 'a ramshackle three-story structure' which in 1968, with 84a, was purchased by Vernon Richards. Following the purchase, the floors were strengthened to take the weight of the printing machines which were moved into it from the basement of 84a and the publications of the press.VR 1986. In 1982 Algate Press was launched as an independent printing co-op. Also in 1982, Richards donated the freehold of 84b to the Friends of Freedom Press.Freedom Press.
84c Whitechapel High Street - in 1968 'a bombed out site' which, with 84a and 84b, see above, was purchased 'as one lot'.