England's first two purpose-built playhouses stood here. James Burbage put up The Theatre in 1576 and the Curtain followed a year later. When the Burbages lost the lease in 1598 they took The Theatre down and rebuilt it across the river as the Globe. Museum of London archaeologists found its foundations under in 2008.
Almost nothing above ground is that old. South Shoreditch was the centre of the English furniture trade in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the buildings along and went up as showrooms and warehouses for it. Most of them date from 1870 to 1910. They have plain brick fronts and tall windows.
Railway viaducts run over the same streets. Trains into Liverpool Street are up on arches along the southern edge, and the Overground runs above Kingsland Road. The arches underneath are let as workshops and bars. Past Great Eastern Street the Broadgate offices begin.
stands where Shoreditch High Street meets Old Street and Hackney Road. is west along Old Street. on Mark Street is one of the few Grade I listed buildings in Hackney. It stopped being a church in the 1960s and was used afterwards as a showroom for architectural antiques. Offices are going into it now.
and are Ultra Low Emission Streets. Vehicles emitting more than 75g of CO2 per kilometre cannot enter them on weekdays between 7am and 10am or between 4pm and 7pm, and delivery vehicles are not exempt.
