Pekin Street, along with other Chinese-themed streetnames locally, began life in 1858.
Brothers Oliver and George Evan Evans laid out a street called Evans Street and divided the land between them in 1846. Construction continued until the mid-1850s.
Evans Street initially extended for 550 feet to the western boundary of the Evans’ land. Around 1858, an extension was made when Pekin Street, along with Nankin Street, was developed by Stephen Redman and other owners of adjacent land, providing Evans Street access to East India Dock Road. The entire street was renamed Pekin Street in 1887.
In 1883, the Elim chapel was constructed on the west side of Pekin Street by builder W. Howard of Canning Town. It served a Strict Baptist congregation that had previously congregated in Waterloo Street, Limehouse. The chapel, with a seating capacity of 300, faced a decline in attendance by 1902. In 1927, the site was sold, leading to the replacement of the Elim chapel with the Beulah Gospel Hall and the Excelsior Works of Ernest Perrett Ltd, a flagmaking company. Both structures suffered significant damage during the Second World War.
