19, Princelet Street

19 Princelet Street, Spi­tal­fields is a museum cel­e­brat­ing the his­tory of immi­gra­tion to and set­tle­ment in London.

The build­ing itself is the museum’s best exhibit. First occu­pied by a Hugenot master silk weaver who fled per­se­cu­tion in France, over the cen­turies immi­grants from Poland (who set up the wonderfully-​named Loyal United Friends Friendly Soci­ety to help fellow new­com­ers) and Ire­land lived in the house, and in 1869 a tiny syn­a­gogue was built in the back garden. Lenin is said to have attended meet­ings in the base­ment and there’s even some­thing of a mys­tery about the place: in 1969 a reclu­sive ten­nant named David Rodin­sky locked the door to his attic apart­ment and promptly dis­ap­peared, an episode that inspired in part Pinter’s The Caretaker.

Due to the dilap­i­dated state of the build­ing, the museum only opens on a hand­ful of days each year, so if you happen to be in London this coming Sunday, you should prob­a­bly take the oppor­tu­nity to visit.

Posted at 3pm on 03/09/03 by Jack Mottram to the art and culture category.
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