page_title: Limehouse Cut
section_title: Caird & Rayner
hierarchical_section_title: Limehouse Cut / Social and industrial history / Caird & Rayner
caption_attribution_description: English: The derelict VIP Garage, Commercial Road, London, once housed the cutting edge Caird &amp; Rayner factory. Originally a sailmaker's loft, It is a listed building. The Limehouse Cut is at the rear.
context_page_description: The Limehouse Cut is a largely straight, broad canal in the East End of London, England, which linked the lower reaches of the Lee Navigation to the River Thames. Opening on 17 September 1770, and widened for two-way traffic by 1777, it is the oldest canal in the London area. Although short, it has a diverse social and industrial history. It now connects to Limehouse Basin as a result of changes made in 1968.
  The Cut turns in a broad curve from Bow Locks, where the Lee Navigation meets Bow Creek; it then proceeds directly south-west for 1.5 miles through the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to Limehouse Basin.
context_section_description: At 777 Commercial Road, opposite Limehouse Church, and backing onto the Limehouse Cut, stands a derelict building bearing the faded sign V.I.P. Garage.  Originally (1869) a ships chandler's, with the best surviving example of a sail loft in Docklands, it was then extended to the east and formed the workshop and offices of Caird & Rayner.  This firm specialised in desalination apparatus, crucial for maintaining ship's boilers — and drinking water — on long sea voyages.  Patented in 1888, their apparatus was fitted on dreadnoughts, British and Japanese battleships, Cunard liners, and "the Czar's new yacht".  A specimen is in the Science Museum.  Water from the Cut was used for testing the equipment.  The firm moved in 1972.
  In 2000 the building was listed, both for its historical and architectural interest.  The engineering workshop is a very early example of fully steel structural framework, probably the only surviving one in London.
caption: The innovative Caird & Rayner works, latterly the VIP Garage, derelict
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