The Improved Industrial Dwellings Company

The Improved Industrial Dwellings Company (IIDC) was a Victorian Model dwellings company founded in 1863 by the printer, philanthropist and later Lord Mayor of London Sir Sydney Waterlow. The company operated operating predominantly in Central London as a provider of block dwellings for the working classes, employing a strict selection and discipline regime amongst its tenants to ensure a healthy return on investment.^[1] Starting with a capital of £50,000,^[2] the IIDC became one of the largest and most successful of the model dwellings companies, housing at its height around 30,000 individuals.^[3]

Buildings

Waterlow worked with the builder Matthew Allen, choosing not to use an architect. Blocks built by the IIDC include:

• Huntingdon Buildings,^[4] Bethnal Green
• Leopold Buildings, Bethnal Green
• Sandringham Buildings, Charing Cross
• Cromwell Buildings, Southwark
• Langbourn Buildings, Finsbury
• Clarendon Flats, Mayfair^[5]
• Cobden Buildings,^[6] Kings Cross Road, Islington (1865)
• Ambrosden Avenue, Devil's Acre, Westminster
• Derby Buildings, Britannia Street, Camden^[7]
• Old Tower Buildings, Brewhouse Lane, Wapping (1864)
• Compton Buildings, Finsbury^[8] (1871)
• New Tower Buildings, Wapping High Street, Wapping (1886)

There were others in Old St Pancras Road, Wapping, Greenwich and Islington.^[9]

See also

• List of existing model dwellings

References