Georgian terraces with tall attic windows surround Hawksmoor's Christ Church and a Victorian market hall in Tower Hamlets. Suffragette filmed a pharmacy on Princelet Street, and Netflix's You sent Joe walking past the market and through Artillery Passage.
What Spitalfields looks like
Fournier Street's terrace runs in brown and red brick, three and four storeys, with wide attic windows glazed almost to the roofline. Ground floors carry timber shopfronts and panelled doors under tall sash windows, and cars line the curb the length of the block.
Princelet Street runs a block south, the same scale of house continuing with more variation in paintwork. Weathered red shutters cover the windows at No. 4. A dark timber shopfront with gilt lettering fronts No. 11. Round arched openings and iron tie plates mark the ground floor at No. 19, now a museum.
Christ Church stands where Fournier Street meets Commercial Street, built between 1715 and 1729. Its stone spire is broad and stepped rather than a thin Gothic needle, rising 202 feet above the shopfronts and pubs around it.
runs along Brushfield Street, its covered hall dating from the 1880s, roofed in iron and glass over rows of stalls. Red brick gables and arched windows front the street. The stands on the curved corner opposite, a dark green shopfront under columns.
crosses Fournier Street a block east of the church, its terrace continuing in matching brick with double yellow lines down the roadway. cuts off Artillery Lane nearby, a narrow paved alley lined with timber shopfronts and hanging pub signs.
Shot in Spitalfields
These streets have drawn productions across a wide span of settings, from a suffragette's London to a present day Netflix thriller. Most use the terraces and the market as they stand. One turned a Georgian interior into a home in Copenhagen.
Suffragette, 2015
Suffragette filmed the character Edith Ellyn's pharmacy at 11 Princelet Street. The house is an early Georgian terrace built in 1719, with a closed string staircase running from the ground floor to the second.
The Danish Girl, 2015
4 Princelet Street
Played Henrik's house, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1920s
The Danish Girl filmed the interior of the character Henrik's house at 4 Princelet Street. The house is an eighteenth century Georgian terrace built in 1723, and the production used its rooms as a home in Copenhagen.
Enola Holmes, 2020
Enola Holmes built a Victorian pub front at the corner of Wilkes Street and Fournier Street, naming it the White Horse and Half Moon in the film. The corner keeps its Georgian terrace on both sides, brick fronts running down Wilkes Street.
Their Finest, 2016
Their Finest filmed a scene facing the gates of Christ Church on Fournier Street. The iron railings and gate stand in front of the church steps, with the terrace's shopfronts running away down the street.
You, 2023
Artillery Passage
In the Netflix series You, Joe's walk through London in the first episode of season four goes along Brushfield Street past Spitalfields Market and through Artillery Passage. Timber shopfronts and hanging signs line the passage on both sides.
What Spitalfields can double for
Elfreth's Alley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Elfreth's Alley in Philadelphia is a run of narrow brick rowhouses built between 1703 and 1836, Georgian and Federal in style with cobblestone paving down the alley. The scale and brickwork are close to Fournier and Princelet Street, both artisan streets from the same century. Elfreth's Alley houses are two storeys with pent roofs over the ground floor windows, lower than the three and four storey terraces here, so a wide shot gives the difference away. Try searching narrow brick rowhouses cobblestone paving now.
Copenhagen, Denmark
The Danish Girl used the front room at 4 Princelet Street as a Copenhagen home, redressed with European furniture and window dressing rather than the shopfronts outside. The panelled walls and tall windows could pass for any well kept European interior once the London street signs are out of frame. Shooting tight on the room keeps the illusion, since a window shot toward the street shows red brick terraces rather than Danish stucco. Try searching panelled room European furniture now.
Paradise Street in Macclesfield, Cheshire
Macclesfield's Paradise Street keeps a terrace of seventeen weavers' houses from around 1840, three storeys in brick with long garret windows built into the roofline. The scale and the attic glazing are close to the weaver housing on Fournier Street. The Macclesfield garrets are later than Fournier Street's and sit on a steeper street, so a tight shot on the top floor windows works better than a wide view of the terrace. Try searching long garret windows now.
