Image by David Granick / Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives

David Granick took thousands of photographs of London’s East End in the 1960s and 70s. For decades after his death, his collection sat in a local archive. Now, after a local photographer rediscovered the images, archivists have digitized, exhibited and published his photographs. The stunning pictures capture a unique community on the brink of rapid transformation.

Granick was born to Anne Rabinovitch and Jonah Granick in 1912. He grew up in Stepney, a neighborhood nested in the East End. The area contained a vibrant Jewish community in the early 20th century, but transformed during the World War II Blitz of London, when much of its population was evacuated for safety. The bombings left lasting scars on the East End, and many Jews chose to abandon Stepney for the suburbs.

Despite the damage of the war, Granick reportedly lived in Stepney his entire life. In the early 1960s, as Atlas Obscura reports, Granick started to take pictures of his birthplace, Stepney, and the surrounding areas. Over the course of nearly 20 years he took over 3,000 photographs. (He was clearly meticulous: Each picture is labeled by date and location.)

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Even though Granick’s photographs were only meant to compliment lectures he gave on local history for the East London Historical Society, they display an extremely keen eye for lighting and composition.

Belhaven Street, 1977 Image by David Granick / Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives

In one example, titled “Belhaven Street, 1977,” an elderly woman in a pink cardigan eyes the photographer from the doorway of her dilapidated apartment. One of her building’s external brick walls is plastered with dogeared orange wallpaper, remnants of a torn down house next door.

In another photograph, titled “Stifford Estate, Stepney Green, 1961,” an abandoned, possibly burnt-out house sits on a grown-over lot. A new development, gray and brutalist, towers in the background.

Selections from Granick’s impressive collection are currently being exhibited at The Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives in London. Accompanying the exhibit is a book of Granick’s photos, “The East End in Colour, 1960-1980,” published by Hoxton Mini Press.

You can find Atlas Obscura’s original story, and a few of Gramnick’s breathtaking photographs, here.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount