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113
(7) St. John's, including Millbank.—It was in this district that
the disastrous flooding took place when the embankment walls of the
River Thames gave way in January, 1928. It is largely an administrative
district, and contains the Houses of Parliament, the Ministries of Air,
Labour, Pensions, Transport and the Board of Trade ; Westminster
Abbey, Westminster Cathedral; Great Scotland Yard, Police Headquarters
and Instructional Institution; five hospitals, including the
Queen Alexandra Hospital and the Royal Army Medical College.
Other educational establishments are Westminster School, Westminster
Abbey and Westminster Cathedral Choir Schools, the Westminster
Training College for Teachers, the School of Retail Distribution, the
Vincent Square Technical Institute, and the Greycoat School for Girls.
Exhibitions include the Tate Gallery, United Services Museum, the
Home Office Industrial Museum, and the two halls of the Horticultural
Society.
There is a large resident population consisting of such as are engaged
in administrative work and others who occupy high-class flats, in
Ashley Gardens and neighbourhood, and also the private houses not far
from Westminster Abbey.
Hostels.
Ten hostels in the locality provide accommodation for 906 persons,
such as business women and girls, male theological students, and boys.
One of them is a police hostel for unmarried constables.
Working-class dwellings—industrial blocks.
Many of the working classes live in this district to be near their work,
and most of them occupy the large blocks of industrial dwellings to be
found here.
Within this area is the Grosvenor Housing Estate of the City Council
previously referred to, which adjoins three large blocks of industrial
dwellings known as the Regency Street Estate, erected by the City Council
about the year 1903.
These, together with two more recent blocks, Schomberg and
Admiral houses, provide 460 tenements, entirely exclusive of the new
Grosvenor Housing Estate of the Council. The Millbank Estate of the
London County Council has a total of 895 tenements; on the Peabody
Estates there are several blocks with 991 tenements; the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners own 139 flats, and there are 6 other smaller estates with
a total of '283 tenements.
In addition, the Army married quarters, Queen Mary's Buildings, off
Frances Street, and the Police married quarters in Cannon Row, Regency