Hare Street and Powis Street in Woolwich were developed as part of the new shopping centre created in the mid 19th century to the south of the original riverside town.
Hare Street - then Richard Street - was finished in 1821 with a total of 158 houses built. Most houses were two storeys high, occasionally three. The narrowest frontages were put up by shipwrights from Woolwich Dockyard, and then sub-leased.
