Board of Trade Offices, Poplar

The Board of Trade Offices, in East India Dock Road,  was built between 1834-1841 by local philanthropist George Green as a Seamen s Home for his own seafarers.  He stated at the time that if the Seamen s Home was not used by his seamen it was to be closed and sold.  This indeed happened.  For in 1856,  after being closed as a Seamen s Home, it was sold and reopened as the Poplar School of Trade and Navigation.  Later, the School was moved to Poplar High Street.  The building was then taken over by the Board of Trade for use as a Mercantile Office.  

It was at the Board of Trade Offices that the day to day administration of the British Merchant Navy was undertaken, covering shipping in the Poplar area.  It was at the Mercantile Office that the welfare of seamen was looked after, disputes between seafarers and ship owners were settled and crews were signs on and paid off.  To all seafarers around the World the Board of Trade Offices was known as Green s House .  

With the sharp decline in London s Shipping Industry in the 1960s and 1970s, there was no need for the Board of Trade Offices and it closed.  In 1978 it was turned into flats and is run by the Toynbee Hall Trust.  Sadly of the many buildings built by shipbuilder George Green along East India Dock Road, this is the only one left.