Presbyterian Church of England

Presbyterian Housing was the first of the philanthropic societies to build in Poplar. When it was formed in 1925 there were several Presbyterian churches and a Presbyterian Women's Settlement in the Poplar area. At the instigation of Dr A. Herbert Gray of Crouch Hill, Miss H. B. Mackay, the Warden of the Settlement, addressed an informal meeting in Hampstead. Offers of help were immediately forthcoming and a committee was appointed to implement what was at first simply called the 'Presbyterian Housing Scheme'. Presbyterian Housing began its activities in Poplar in 1926 by converting properties in Poplar High Street into flats. It then moved on to build a new block of flats in Simpson's Road - Goodspeed House, opened in 1929. On 29 May 1929 the scheme became Presbyterian Housing Ltd, which was registered as a public utility society. A further block of flats was built in Simpson's Road (Goodwill House, opened in 1932) with the help of a supplemental contribution from the LCC.

From: 'Public Housing in Poplar: The Inter-war Years', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 23-37.