Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
'This building - it is quite the most amazing found object..'
Visit London's Museum of Immigration and Settlement
At 19 Princelet Street, just off Brick Lane, on one of the prettiest streets in London, is a beautiful house with a rich history which it is hoped one day will become London's first Museum of Immigration and Settlement.
Built in 1719 by a family of Huguenot silk weavers, who were fleeing religious persecution in France, the building was subsequently home to Irish immigrants and later became a synagogue in 1869. It was here that the Jewish families of East London, who had arrived fleeing the pogroms in Eastern Europe, came to worship.
Nowadays, of course, it is the Bangladeshi community who live and work in the area, and the Georgian houses in the surrounding streets are also home to artists like Gilbert and George, and Tracey Emin. The plans to convert the house into a museum of London's immigration are, however, severely lacking in funds and need £3m in funding to even do the necessary work to repair it.
That said, however, the building is an absolute gem and is now owned by the Spitalfields Centre Charity, but due to it's fragility is only open to the public for a few days each year, including the annual London Open House weekend in September. The house is a short walk from Liverpool Street. For more information on the building, and when it is open, visit their website.
There's an annoying page on the site where they talk about group visits and suggested donations - then get granular about amounts and 100% loss of deposit for cancellation. It's a fee; fine, not unfair, but I wish they'd be honest enough just call a spade a spade.
Actually looks like the street may be quite interesting. Here's a pic of another 18th Century building in the same street.
(Thanks to Tired of London for the info above and to M. J. Maccardini for the pic.)
At 19 Princelet Street, just off Brick Lane, on one of the prettiest streets in London, is a beautiful house with a rich history which it is hoped one day will become London's first Museum of Immigration and Settlement.
Built in 1719 by a family of Huguenot silk weavers, who were fleeing religious persecution in France, the building was subsequently home to Irish immigrants and later became a synagogue in 1869. It was here that the Jewish families of East London, who had arrived fleeing the pogroms in Eastern Europe, came to worship.
Nowadays, of course, it is the Bangladeshi community who live and work in the area, and the Georgian houses in the surrounding streets are also home to artists like Gilbert and George, and Tracey Emin. The plans to convert the house into a museum of London's immigration are, however, severely lacking in funds and need £3m in funding to even do the necessary work to repair it.
That said, however, the building is an absolute gem and is now owned by the Spitalfields Centre Charity, but due to it's fragility is only open to the public for a few days each year, including the annual London Open House weekend in September. The house is a short walk from Liverpool Street. For more information on the building, and when it is open, visit their website.
There's an annoying page on the site where they talk about group visits and suggested donations - then get granular about amounts and 100% loss of deposit for cancellation. It's a fee; fine, not unfair, but I wish they'd be honest enough just call a spade a spade.
Actually looks like the street may be quite interesting. Here's a pic of another 18th Century building in the same street.
(Thanks to Tired of London for the info above and to M. J. Maccardini for the pic.)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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If there are 20 other people interested I'd be up for a Harringay group visit - a fiver each. Anyone else? The Times calls their expo 'hauntingly beautiful'.
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Permalink Reply by alistairj on
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I'd be interested in this if we could get a group visit going (shame they don't allow photography though...).
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Can I recommend a book by Rachel Lichtenstein called On Brick Lane. (There's a review here.) The book - and the review - raise interesting questions about the process where 'historical' parts of cities are turned into street museums.
It's also curious how many visitors to the area seem to focus on the decay. While apparently ignoring the incredible energy and creativity of the Spitalfields neighbourhood.
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Alan stanton. Reminds me of the 'lower east side tenament museum' New york city. A charity bought the building and forcibly evicted the tenants to make way for the museum.
(Hugh - This is not meant to disparage :-)
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Permalink Reply by Caroline on
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The mosque is now on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street - in a building that was originally a synagogue.
I went to a wonderful exhibition at 19 Princelet street a couple of years ago which explored the emmigration stories of local people. Tere was one exbibit where you had to write down the two things that you would take with you if you were told to leave your home within 5 minutes. You wrote your two things on a brown luggage tag which was then put into a suitcase. I spent ages looking through the suitcase and reading the answers other had given - it was terribly sad.
For those who aren't prone to being offended I can recommend 'England People Very Nice' at the National which gives a rollicking history of the Brick Lane and environs: only if you have a strong stomach though - there is something to offend everyone in this play.
I'd also like to back up Alan's recommendation for 'On Brick Lane', one of the best books about London I've read (and I've been through a few!)
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Ah, the wonders of planning legislation. Our Mosque on Wightman Rd used to be a Synagogue.
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No, it's the Evangelist (?) church opposite the mosque that was the synagogue; the mosque is new build.
I had another thought overnight. It may be worth timing a visit to Princelet Street with one to Dennis Sever's House on Folgate Street, just the other side of Commercial Street. A very different interpretation of Spitalfields.
www.dennissevershouse.co.uk
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Oh dear, the Internets have let me down again. I got my information from Google.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I'm sure when I went to one of the Mosque open days they said that it was built on the site of the former synagogue
I'm ashamed to say I can't remember how that site looked before they started building the Mosque
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You could be right, and I could owe John an apology. I have to admit that I might have been making assumptions:I knew that there had been a Synagogue at the top of Wightman and thought that I knew it had then become a church (the church opposite kind of looks like a Synagogue if you look up at the roof line!)
Sadly I can't remember the Mosque site either. A friend of mine was involved with the refurbishment of the council estate next door and I think that the mosque was built around the same time, possibly as part of the same development deal. I shall ask what she remembers and eat my humble pie. -
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