Group    From 1890  To 1915

Craft School - Globe Road

Categories: Craft / Design, Education

We have found some very interesting information about this School. It grew out of the Ring and Rose Club. The architect F. W. Troup was art adviser and governor. It was closely associated with the Art Workers Guild in Queens Square and the Central School of Arts & Crafts. However, there is no certainty about its location in Globe Road (1896-1907), but there are clues.....

Fairfax-Cholmeley gives the history of this Craft School with lots of interesting images. In summary: Whitechapel Craft School was set up in 1891 in premises at 27 Little Alie Street. In 1896 it was moved to premises at 137-141 Globe Road, described there as a "disused Catholic Church". There are two 1891 photographs of workshops showing (some of) the inside of the building (we show one on this page). In 1907 the school moved to 37-39 Stepney Green Road. In 1915 it was forced to close due to financial and other pressures related to WW1.

A leaflet created in 1925 for the opening of the Memorial Garden describes the location of the School when it was in Globe Road as "within a stone's throw" of the Memorial Garden. The website hosting this leaflet expresses the view that the building currently on the site was the one used by the School.

Our thoughts on the location: As explained elsewhere we believe that the current building is the same as that on the site at the time that the School was in Globe Road (as shown in aerial photos at Disused Stations, though much messed about). However we are pretty certain that the School was not in this building. We have two reasons for this belief: the Fairfax-Cholmeley interior photos show some fenestration which we cannot make tally with that shown in the aerial photos. And, researching Gordon Hall, it seems to have been busy operating as a Mission at the relevant time (e.g. National Archives hold 'Gordon Hall, Globe Road minutes 1868-1904'). It could not have been both a busy Craft School and a busy Mission Hall, simultaneously.

The Fairfax-Cholmeley clue, about the disused Catholic church, leads us to St Anthony's church at about 137-141 Globe Road (occupying the land between Globe Road and what is now Wessex Road). However, according to the National Archives, it operated 1879-1936 and was an Anglican church.  Apart from a small Baptist Chapel immediately opposite the Wesleyan Chapel shown on Weller's 1868 map we can see no other churches in Globe Road.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Craft School - Globe Road

Commemorated ati

Craft School - Globe Road

The west, road, side of this plaque carries a relief, by Winifred Turner, sho...

Read More

Other Subjects

James Purdey the younger

James Purdey the younger

Gunmaker, built premises in 1880 to house his new showrooms and workshops, James Purdey & Sons Ltd. The Picture Source website has a short on-line history and also informs about a book on the...

Person, Commerce, Craft / Design

1 memorial
William Bainbridge Reynolds

William Bainbridge Reynolds

Art metal worker and an architect. Born Chelsea.  He became very successful and his metalwork features in many cathedrals and churches. His patrons included almost every important architect of the ...

Person, Architecture, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Tallow Chandlers Company

Tallow Chandlers Company

Tallow chandlers make candles and other products from animal fat.  the Company originated as a religious fraternity.  1456 granted a coat of arms.  1462 became a Livery Company. 

Group, Craft / Design, Liveries & Guilds

2 memorials
William Caxton

William Caxton

Probably born Tenterden, Kent. Printer, in 1474, producing the first book printed in English "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye". Died Westminster.

Person, Craft / Design, Journalism / Publishing

3 memorials
Stella Newton

Stella Newton

Fashion designer and dress historian, who brought the history of fashion to bear on art history and the dating of paintings. She designed for the theatre and for fashion, having her own shop in the...

Person, Art, Craft / Design, History

1 memorial