53-697: The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street , in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets . The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend , opened in 1901 as one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London. The building is a notable example of the British Modern Style . In 2009 the gallery approximately doubled in size by incorporating
106-481: A chapel of ease , dedicated to St Mary was established so people did not have to make the longer journey to Stepney's parish church St Dunstans . The earliest known rector was Hugh de Fulbourne in 1329. Whitechapel takes its name from that church, St Mary Matfelon , which like the nearby White Tower of the Tower of London was at one time whitewashed to give it a prominent and attractive appearance. The etymology of
159-488: A pediment with a clock in the tympanum . The Barts Health NHS Trust , who operated the hospital, vacated the old hospital building when it completed its relocation to modern facilities to the south of the old hospital in spring 2016. In February 2015 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council acquired the old hospital for £9 million and announced plans to convert it into a new "civic centre" to which it would relocate from its existing premises at Mulberry Place . The project
212-571: A dome and minaret was built in the heart of Whitechapel, attracting thousands of worshippers every week, and it was further expanded with the London Muslim Centre in 2004. A library, the Whitechapel Idea Store , constructed in 2005 at a cost of £12 million by William Verry to a design by David Adjaye , was nominated for the 2006 Stirling Prize . Tower Hamlets Town Hall Tower Hamlets Town Hall
265-636: A popular cause at the time. The "Elephant Man" Joseph Merrick (1862–1890) became well known in Whitechapel – he was exhibited in a shop on the Whitechapel Road before being helped by Frederick Treves (1853–1923) at the Royal London Hospital , opposite the actual shop. There is a museum in the hospital about his life. In 1902, American author Jack London , looking to write a counterpart to Jacob Riis 's seminal book How
318-405: A schoolmistress was to teach them the "catechism, reading, knitting, plain sewing, and any other useful work". In 1701 an unknown donor gave the foundation £1,000 (equivalent to £190,000 in 2023) so the children might be suitably clothed as well as educated. Between 1783 and 1830 the school received twenty gifts totalling over £5,000. Typical income seems to have been about £500 per year, which
371-441: A symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Whitechapel Road; the central section of five bays featured an arcade of round headed windows on the ground floor, a mullioned window with tracery spanning the first and second floors in the left hand bay and sash windows on the first and the second floors in the other four bays. The windows were flanked by full-height Doric order pilasters supporting an entablature and
424-718: A tent, erected in the Friends Burial Ground , Thomas Street, Whitechapel, in 1865. Others joined his Christian Mission , and on 7 August 1878 the Salvation Army was formed at a meeting held at 272 Whitechapel Road. A statue commemorates both his mission and his work in helping the poor. The population grew quickly with migrants from the English countryside and further afield. Many of these incomers were Irish or Jewish. Western Whitechapel, and neighbouring areas of Wapping, became known as Little Germany due to
477-494: Is a municipal facility in Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel , London. The new structure, which has been commissioned as the headquarters of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council , incorporates the façade of the old Royal London Hospital which is a Grade II listed building . The original hospital was designed by Boulton Mainwaring in the neoclassical style , built in yellow brick and opened in September 1757. The design involved
530-524: Is still home to Freedom Press, the anarchist publishing house founded by Charlotte Wilson . On Sunday 4 October 1936, the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley , intended to march through the East End, an area with a large Jewish population. The BUF mustered on and around Tower Hill and hundreds of thousands of local people turned out to block the march. There were violent clashes with
583-618: The Aldgate itself, to vicinity of the junction with Cambridge Heath Road where it met the boundaries of Mile End and Bethnal Green . The northern boundary included Wentworth Street and parts of Old Montague Street. The parish also included an area around Goodman's Fields , close to the City and south of St Mary's, the parish church. The area became an independent parish around 1338. At that time parish areas only had an ecclesiastical (church) function, with parallel civil parishes being formed in
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#1732772616814636-487: The Aldgate to Colchester , a route that later became known as the Great Essex Road . Population growth resulting from ribbon development along this route, led to the creation of the parish of Whitechapel, a daughter parish of Stepney , from which it was separated, in the 14th century. Whitechapel has a long history of having a high proportion of immigrants within the community. From the late 19th century until
689-669: The Chief Minister of West Bengal . Also in 2022 a historical marker was placed in Whitechapel, on the site of the former Adler House at the junction of Adler and Coke Streets by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation UK Branch. Adler House was named in honour of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Herman Adler, 1891–1911. The marker recognises the significance of Whitechapel as
742-533: The East End . It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough town centre. Whitechapel is located 3.4 miles (5.5 km) east of Charing Cross . The district is primarily built around Whitechapel High Street and Whitechapel Road , which extend from the City of London boundary to just east of Whitechapel station . These two streets together form a section of the originally Roman Road from
795-537: The Great Essex Road , is now designated the A11 . This historic route has the names Whitechapel High Street and Whitechapel Road as it passes through, or along the boundary, of Whitechapel. For many centuries travellers to and from London on this route were accommodated at the many coaching inns which lined Whitechapel High Street. The area of the parish extended around 1400 metres from the City of London boundary, originally marked by Aldgate Bars around 180 metres east of
848-575: The Matfelon element is unclear and apparently unique. Around 1338, Whitechapel became an independent parish, with St Mary Matfelon , originally a chapel of ease within Stepney, becoming the parish church. Whitechapel's spine is the old Roman Road, that ran from the Aldgate on London's Wall , to Colchester in Essex ( Roman Britannia's first capital), and beyond. This road, which was later named
901-519: The 11 Whitechapel murders (1888–91), some of which were committed by the legendary serial killer known as " Jack the Ripper ". These attacks caused widespread terror in the district and throughout the country and drew the attention of social reformers to the squalor and vice of the area, even though these crimes remain unsolved today. London County Council , founded 1889, helped deliver investment in new housing and slum clearance ; objectives which were
954-421: The 17th century to the mid-19th century resulted in great numbers of more or less destitute people taking up residence amidst the industries, businesses and services ancillary to the City of London that had attracted them. The Whitechapel Mount was a large, probably artificial mound, of unknown origin, that stood on the south side of Whitechapel Road, about 1200 metres east of the Aldgate , immediately west of
1007-598: The BUF around Tower Hill, but most of the violence occurred as police tried to clear a route through the crowds for the BUF to follow. The police fought protesters at nearby Cable Street – the series of clashes becoming known as the Battle of Cable Street – and Tower Hill, but the largest confrontations took place at Aldgate and Whitechapel, notably at Gardiner's Corner , at the junction of Leman Street , Commercial Street and Whitechapel High Street . The Halal restaurant on
1060-725: The Other Half Lives , donned ragged clothes and boarded in Whitechapel, detailing his experiences in The People of the Abyss . The Siege of Sidney Street (also known as the Battle of Stepney , after the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney of which Whitechapel was part) in January 1911 was a gunfight between police and military forces, and Latvian revolutionaries. Then Home Secretary Winston Churchill took over
1113-625: The Pavilion this way: "A large East-end theatre capable of holding considerably over 3,000 persons. Melodrama of a rough type, farce, pantomime, &c. " In the early 20th century it became the home of Yiddish theatre, catering to the large Jewish population of the area, and gave birth to the Anglo-Jewish 'Whitechapel Boys' avant-garde literary and artistic movement. Since at least the 1970s, Whitechapel and other nearby parts of East London have figured prominently in London's art scene. Probably
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#17327726168141166-626: The Tudor period. The original purpose of the civil parishes was poor relief. The area was part of the historic (or ancient) county of Middlesex , but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the Tower Division (also known as the Tower Hamlets) . The role of the Tower Division ended when Whitechapel became part of the new County of London in 1889, and most civil parish functions were removed when
1219-679: The Whitechapel Gallery to remain open to the public all year round. In 2006, Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press formed an editorial alliance to produce a new series of books entitled Documents of Contemporary Art. The Whitechapel reopened in April 2009 after a two-year project, which approximately doubled the size of the Gallery by incorporating the adjacent former Passmore Edwards library building (vacated when Whitechapel Idea Store opened). The work cost approximately £13.5 million and
1272-546: The Whitechapel Gallery was displaced by newer venues such as the Hayward Gallery , then in the 1980s it enjoyed a resurgence under the Directorship of Nicholas Serota . The gallery had a major refurbishment in 1986; and in 2009 expanded into the former Passmore Edwards Library building next door. The expansion, which doubled the gallery's physical size and nearly tripled its available exhibition space, now allows
1325-404: The Whitechapel's standing as an educational charity. The archives catalogue the very conception of the gallery, as well as the complete directors' files of correspondence which reveal the reasons behind key decisions in the Gallery's history. Whitechapel Whitechapel is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets . It is in east London and part of
1378-486: The adjacent former Passmore Edwards library building. It exhibits the work of contemporary artists and organizes retrospective exhibitions and other art shows. The gallery exhibited Pablo Picasso 's Guernica in 1938 as part of a touring exhibition organised by Roland Penrose to protest against the Spanish Civil War . The gallery played a major role in the history of post-war British art by promoting
1431-405: The area joined the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900. In 1965 there was a further round of changes when the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green and the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar to form the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets . The new borough of Tower Hamlets covered only part of the historic Tower Division (or Tower Hamlets). At
1484-580: The area's most prominent art venue is the Whitechapel Art Gallery , founded in 1901 and long an outpost of high culture in a poor neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood has gentrified, it has gained citywide, and even international, visibility and support. From 2005 the gallery underwent a major expansion, with the support of £3.26 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The expanded facility opened in 2009. Whitechapel in
1537-560: The centre of British Jewish refugee life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local council facilities will be grouped within the old Royal London Hospital building as a civic centre. The local library , now called an Idea Store is located on Whitechapel Road . Whitechapel Road was the location of two 19th-century theatres: The Effingham (1834–1897) and The Pavilion Theatre (1828–1935; building demolished in 1962). Charles Dickens Jr. (eldest child of Charles Dickens ), in his 1879 book Dickens's Dictionary of London , described
1590-589: The city market demanded, such as tanneries, builders' goods yards, laundries, clothes dyers, slaughterhouse -related work, soaperies, and breweries. Whitechapel was strongly notable for foundries, foremost of which was the Whitechapel Bell Foundry , which later cast Philadelphia 's Liberty Bell , Westminster's Big Ben , Bow Bells and more recently the London Olympic Bell in 2012. Population shifts from rural areas to London from
1643-425: The early 21st century has figured prominently in London's punk rock and skuzz rock scenes, with the main focal point for this scene being Whitechapel Factory and Rhythm Factory bar, restaurant, and nightclub. This scene includes the likes of The Libertines, Zap!, Nova , The Others , Razorlight, and The Rakes, all of whom have had some commercial success in the music charts. The total population of Whitechapel in 2021
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1696-630: The embodiment of London's East End, and for that reason it is often used to represent the East End in art and literature . Landmarks include Tower Hamlets Town Hall, the Royal London Hospital and the East London Mosque . Whitechapel was originally part of the Manor and Parish of Stepney , but population growth resulting from its position just outside the Aldgate on the Roman Road to Essex resulted in significant population growth, so
1749-488: The general public as well as introducing some of the artists, concepts, designers and photographers that would define the Swinging Sixties . Throughout its history, the gallery had a series of open exhibitions that provided a platform for the area's artist community, but by the early 1990s these open shows became less relevant as emerging artists moved to other areas. In the late 1970s, the critical importance of
1802-424: The historic station which underwent a massive redevelopment that started in 2010. In order to prepare for Crossrail, in January 2016, the old Whitechapel station was closed for refurbishment and modernisation work in order to improve services and increase capacity in the station. The Royal London Hospital was closed and re-opened behind the original site in 2012 in a brand new building costing £650m. The old site
1855-548: The junction of St Mark Street and Alie Street opened in 1939 to serve the many Indian seamen living in the area. It is now the oldest Indian restaurant in East London. Whitechapel remained poor through the first half of the 20th century, though somewhat less desperately so. It suffered great damage from enemy bombers during the Blitz , and from the subsequent German V-weapon attacks. The parish church, St Mary Matfelon ,
1908-491: The large numbers of German people who came to the area; many of these people, and their descendants, worked in the sugar industry. The St George's German Lutheran Church on Alie Street is a legacy of that part of the community. Writing of the period 1883–1884, Yiddish theatre actor Jacob Adler wrote, "The further we penetrated into this Whitechapel, the more our hearts sank. Was this London? Never in Russia, never later in
1961-508: The late 20th century the area had a very high Jewish population, and it subsequently became a significant settlement for the British Bangladeshi community. Whitechapel and neighbouring Spitalfields were the locations of the infamous 11 Whitechapel murders (1888–91), some of which were attributed to the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper . These factors and others have led to Whitechapel being seen by many as
2014-668: The leading city of the nation that had invented modern capitalism. He concluded that English poverty was far rougher than the American variety. The juxtaposition of the poverty, homelessness, exploitative work conditions, prostitution, and infant mortality of Whitechapel and other East End locales with some of the greatest personal wealth the world has ever seen made it a focal point for leftist reformers and revolutionaries of all kinds, from George Bernard Shaw , whose Fabian Society met regularly in Whitechapel, to Vladimir Lenin , led rallies in Whitechapel during his exile from Russia. The area
2067-555: The mass mobilisation of the local Bengali community. The gardens of the former churchyard were later renamed Altab Ali Park in his memory. The Metropolitan line between Hammersmith and Whitechapel was withdrawn in 1990 and shown separately as a new line called the Hammersmith & City line . Crossrail calls at Whitechapel station on the Elizabeth line . Eastbound services will be split into two branches after leaving
2120-601: The modern Royal London Hospital. The Mount is widely believed to have formed part of London's defences during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-17th century. This was either as part of a ring of fortifications known as the Lines of Communication which were in operation from 1642 to 1647, or additionally or alternatively, as one of the three forts which replaced that system of defence immediately afterwards. The mount
2173-461: The operation, and his presence caused a political row over the level of his involvement during the time. His biographers disagreed and claimed that he gave no operational commands to the police, but a Metropolitan Police account states that the events of Sidney Street were "a very rare case of a Home Secretary taking police operational command decisions". The Freedom Press , a socialist publishing house, thought it worthwhile to explore conditions in
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2226-476: The same time, the area became part of the new Greater London , which replaced the older, smaller County of London . Whitechapel, along with areas such as neighbouring Shoreditch , Holborn (west of the city) and Southwark (south of the Thames), was one of London's earlier extra-mural suburbs. Beyond controls of the City of London Corporation , Whitechapel was used for more polluting and land-intensive industries
2279-483: The work of emerging artists. Several significant exhibitions were held at the Whitechapel Gallery including This is Tomorrow in 1956, the first UK exhibition by Mark Rothko in 1961, and in 1964, The New Generation show which featured John Hoyland , Bridget Riley , David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield among others. Initiated by members of the Independent Group , the exhibition brought Pop Art to
2332-714: The worst slums of New York, were we to see such poverty as in the London of the 1880s." This endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution. In October 1888 the Metropolitan Police estimated that there were 1,200 prostitutes "of very low class" resident in Whitechapel and about 62 brothels. Reference is specifically made to them in Charles Booth 's Life and Labour of the People in London , especially to dwellings called Blackwall Buildings belonging to Blackwall Railway. Such prostitutes were numbered amongst
2385-466: Was "The relief of all sick and diseased persons and, in particular, manufacturers, seamen in the merchant service and their wives and children". The hospital moved to the then largely rural Whitechapel Road site in 1757, and was renamed the London Hospital. It became known as the Royal London Hospital on its 250th anniversary in 1990. The new building, adjacent to the old building it replaced,
2438-519: Was 18,841. Bangladeshis are the largest ethnic group in the area, making up 40% of the Whitechapel ward total population. The East London Mosque at the end of Whitechapel Road is one of the largest mosques in Europe. The mosque group was established as early as 1910, and the demand for a mosque grew as the Sylheti community grew rapidly over the years. In 1985 this large, purpose built mosque with
2491-625: Was badly damaged in a raid on 29 December 1940, a raid so damaging that it caused the Second Great Fire of London . The remains were demolished in 1952. St Mary's traced stone footprint and former graveyard remain, as part of Altab Ali Park . On 4 May 1978, three teenagers murdered Altab Ali , a 24 year old Bangladesh-born clothing worker, in a racially motivated attack, as he walked home after work. The attack took place on Adler Street, by St Mary's Churchyard, where St Mary Matfelon had previously stood. The reaction to his murder provoked
2544-574: Was intended to bring wider regeneration benefits to the Tower Hamlets area. Planning consent for the conversion was given in March 2018. The construction required to deliver the conversion commenced in February 2019. The work is being undertaken by Bouygues at a cost of £109.5 million to a design by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris . The design involved the retention of the listed facade and
2597-569: Was much more than most vicar's and rector's livings, net. Supporting modern education, the Davenant Centre continues and the Davenant Foundation School has, since 1966, been based at Loughton in Essex . The London Infirmary was established as a voluntary hospital in 1740, and within a year soon moved from Finsbury to Prescot Street, a very densely populated and deprived part of southern Whitechapel. Its aim
2650-518: Was opened in 2012. In 2023 the old hospital building became the new Tower Hamlets Town Hall , replacing the Mulberry Place site in Poplar . In common with many other parts of the East End of London , Whitechapel gained a reputation for severe poverty, overcrowding, and the social problems that came with it. William Booth began his Christian Revival Society , preaching the gospel in
2703-607: Was partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund . A full-size tapestry based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica , by Jacqueline de la Baume Dürrbach and loaned from the United Nations Art Collection , was included in the inaugural exhibition by Goshka Macuga . and Isa Genzken . As part of the expansion, a new Archive Gallery, a reading room and an archive repository (where the Whitechapel's historic records are held) have been created to support
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#17327726168142756-464: Was removed to allow residential development in 1807–1808. In 1680, Ralph Davenant (rector of the parish of Whitechapel), his wife and his sister-in-law bequeathed a large sum for a schoolmaster to teach literacy, numeracy and the "principles of the Church of England" to forty boys of the parish. In the same deed Henry and Sarah Gullifer undertook to provide for the education of thirty poor girls; namely
2809-499: Was then repurchased by the local council to open a new town hall, replacing the existing Town Hall at Mulberry Place. In March 2022, Whitechapel station signs had "হোয়াইটচ্যাপেল" in Bengali installed. The British-Pakistani Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was "delighted" that the signage was installed ahead of Bangladesh Independence Day on 26 March. The installation was attended by Bangladeshi diplomats and Mamata Banerjee ,
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