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Westcott House, East India Dock Road, LONDON, E14 0DG

A seamen's hostel -- the last in East London and the largest in the UK. Many retired seafarers now live here. See the Merchant Navy Welfare Board link http://www.mnwb.org/index.php/news-reader.89/items/queen-victoria-seamens-rest.665.html

By Cecil Handisyde and D. Rogers Stark, 1949-51. Very distinctive and original owing to its angular tower (the bell apparently survives from the predecessor destroyed in the war) and copper-clad body set within a concrete frame. It was included in the Exhibition of Live Architecture, part of the Festival of Britain at the nearby Lansbury Estate.

Looking south-southeast down Saltwell Street.

Looking away from Central London. This is the A13, a busy commuter route.

Looking towards Central London. Traffic is building up heading out of town.

An attractive terrace of grade II listed Georgian town houses, a happy survival in an area comprehensively redeveloped since the Second World War. The effect is spoiled somewhat by the mauve wheely bins.

This is the Jeremiah Street entrance of Queen Victoria Seamen's Rest opened in 1902. See http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.141/chapterId/2941/The-welfare-of-seamen.html for contemporary photos. Earlier there was a small mission, run by the Wesletyan Methodist church, consisting of a plainly furnished reading room and rest room with a third room available for daily Bible and Prayer meetings. An elementary nautical school ran three mornings a week and services were held on Monday and Friday evenings. Prior to that on this spot stood a tavern appositely named The Magnet - a considerable attraction, no doubt, to the recently-paid-off sailors who thronged this area. The Methodists had it closed down and took over the site.

This world-famous hostel and retirement home for merchant seamen started out in 1887 as Methodist mission in Jeremiah Street (right), at the end of the century a new building went up which is now sandwiched between C20 extensions, this one fronting East India Dock Road to the south, the other behind to the north. It accommodates 170 men of all faiths. The old institute was bombed during WW2 but never closed. For full history of the QSVR see http://www.qvsr.org.uk/history.htm

Lurking behind pollarded plane trees is this former home for seamen, built 1839-41, and now flats. Grade II listed. Much more info here: Image