J. Carter & Co., my grandfather's business
Contributed by F_G_Bird on Nov. 26, 2020
My grandfather (also F. G. Bird), as J. Carter & Co., took on the lease of
15 Dock Street on the 1st January 1921. The immediate previous occupier was
Smith's Tarpaulins of Hainault who used the middle block to stable their
delivery horses.
The buildings were owned by an old lady. I was given to suppose (true or
false, I know not) that she was in business as an importer of animals for
zoos. She died intestate and the property went into the hands of the Public
Trustee and a sale to J. Carter & Co (Lime Street) Ltd was agreed in the
mid 1950s.
The lions on the entrance gate
pillars were there in my grandfather's days, I have this photo of the
company's horse-drawn pantechnicon standing in front of the building with the
lions in evidence. The photo was taken in the 1930s with the motor van of
those days, with the lions still in place.
The 'Dining Rooms', as they were refered to, were sublet to them by J. Carter
& Co before my time and I have no information about them.
The company had a sub-tenant for a period before selling the freehold to Art
for Offices and vacating the property.
15-19 Dock Street
Contributed by Survey of London on March 4, 2019
James Golding, a licensed or bonded carman on Christian Street, acquired a
large (128ft) freehold frontage here in 1860 and as James Golding & Son
immediately enclosed a yard that extended back to Well Street. The Dock Street
entrance was flanked by the substantial three-storey stock-brick buildings
that survive, a warehouse (now No. 15) to the north and a twelve-room double-
fronted house (now No. 19) to the south, with stabling and lofts behind. The
warehouse is strikingly peculiar with its tall triple relieving arches,
Golding’s architect and builder are not known. Henry Golding sold up in 1872,
Scott & Till, hemp and coir merchants, took up occupation, and several
other firms followed. J. Carter & Co. Ltd, bank and office fitters and
furnishers, had the warehouse from the 1920s. Abdul Sabain had dining rooms in
the house in the 1940s. Carter & Co. then took the larger site up to 1986.
The warehouse was subsequently acquired and used by Art for Offices. A
conversion with the replacement of a lower setback link range with a five-
storey block, for fourteen flats and two recording studio-office units, was
carried out in 2008 for Chohan Bros Construction Ltd of Wembley Park (as or
with Jasmine Estates Ltd), working initially with Tasou Associates Ltd for
designs prepared in 2002, later with Loren Design Ltd (Richard Loren). The
lion-topped piers to the yard entrance, in place by the 1930s, have been
relocated, and the house has lost a bold cornice and had an attic added.
