West India Dock Company From 1802 until the late 1980s, the area now known as the Canary Wharf Estate was part of the
Isle of Dogs (specifically
Millwall) and
Poplar. The West India Docks, a central feature of the area, were primarily developed by
Robert Milligan (c. 1746–1809), who founded the West India Dock Company.
Port of London Authority The
Port of London Authority was established in 1909 and took control of the West India Dock. The enterprise of
Alfred Lewis Jones, a Welsh shipping magnate and a prominent figure in the
Canary Islands,
Spain, led to a constant stream of ships arriving into London's South Quay Dock. No. 32 berth of West Wood Quay in the Import Dock was built in 1936 with a two-storey transit shed for Fruit Lines Ltd, a subsidiary of
Fred Olsen Lines, for the
Mediterranean and
Canary Islands fruit trade, gaining the name Canary Wharf.
London Docklands Development Corporation After the 1960s, when cargo became
containerised, the port industry began to decline, leading to the closure of all the docks by 1980. After the docks closed in 1980, the British Government adopted policies to stimulate redevelopment of the area, including the creation of the
London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) in 1981 and the granting of
Urban Enterprise Zone status to the Isle of Dogs in 1982. and construction began in 1988, master-planned by
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with
Yorke Rosenberg Mardall as their UK advisors, and subsequently by Koetter Kim. The first buildings were completed in 1991, including
One Canada Square, which became the UK's tallest building at the time and a symbol of the regeneration of Docklands. By the time it opened, the London commercial property market had collapsed, and Olympia and York Canary Wharf Limited filed for bankruptcy in May 1992. Initially, the City of London saw Canary Wharf as an existential threat. It modified its planning laws to expand the provision of new offices in the City of London, for example, creating offices above railway stations (Blackfriars) and roads (
Alban Gate). The resulting oversupply of office space contributed to the failure of the Canary Wharf project.
Canary Wharf Group In October 1995, an international consortium that included investors such as
Alwaleed, bought control of the Canary Wharf Group for $1.2 billion.
Paul Reichmann (of Olympia & York) was named chairman, and Canary Wharf went public in 1999. The new company was called Canary Wharf Limited, and later became
Canary Wharf Group. In 1997, some residents living on the Isle of Dogs
launched a lawsuit against Canary Wharf Ltd for private nuisance because
One Canada Square, owned by the company, interfered with TV signals. However, the residents lost the suit. Recovery in the property market generally, coupled with continuing demand for large floorplate Grade A office space, slowly improved the level of interest. A critical event in the recovery was the much-delayed start of work on the
Jubilee Line Extension, which the government wanted ready for the
Millennium celebrations. In March 2004, Canary Wharf Group plc. was taken over by a consortium of investors, backed by its largest shareholder
Glick Family Investments and led by
Morgan Stanley using a vehicle named Songbird Estates plc. == Tallest buildings ==