Vallance Rd, 1984

Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell knows Vallance Rd better than most, since he lived in Pauline House at the Whitechapel end of this busy thoroughfare for thirty years, and walked up and down it daily. Yet among the ancient streets of the East End, Vallance Rd is a newcomer. As late as the mid-nineteenth century, maps show Baker’s Row leading north from Whitechapel Rd onto the open common land that still existed to the south of Bethnal Green at that time. By the end of that century, as the terraces spread across the open land, White St extended from Bethnal Green Rd by way of Notts St down to meet Baker’s Row, and thus the route known today linking Whitechapel and Bethnal Green was formalised, acquiring its current name in the early twentieth century. Once, the Whitechapel Workhouse was a formidable landmark in a street that has always been a means of getting from one place to another rather than a destination its own right, as Phil’s photographs testify.

Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell

You may also like to take a look at

Phil Maxwell in Hanbury St

Phil Maxwell in Bethnal Green Rd

Phil Maxwell in Sclater St

Phil Maxwell’s Brick Lane

Phil Maxwell’s Old Ladies

Phil Maxwell’s Kids On The Street

Phil Maxwell’s East End Cyclists