I often get in a muddle as to which of the east end squares is which and which was the model for EastEnders. Arbour Square is just north of Commercial Road, laid out in 1819 and built as a consequence of Commercial Road being driven through the neighbourhood to give direct access to the docks. Two sides of the square retain terrace houses:
The third side was knocked down early in the twentieth century to create a Raine’s Foundation School, in full Wrenaissance style by Herbert Ellis:
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
There is also an interesting building on the north side of the square of 1937 designed by B J Belsher, the Borough Surveyor . It deserves to be better known – toned down modernist/late Art Deco