Aldgate East
Listing Details
(only the north east underground station entrance which lies within the Grade II listed former Whitechapel Library - now part of the Whitechapel Art Gallery)
Grade: II
Date Listed: 1990
Local Authority: Londond Borough of Tower Hamlets
Description of Exterior
Late Victorian Library. Opened 1892. Potts, Son and Hennings, architects, with funding from philanthropist Passmore Edwards and support from Canon Barnett. Red brick with terracotta quoining and dressings; slate Mansard roof. Free Jacobethan style. 3 storeys plus attic, and 3-window range. EXTERIOR: Ground floor has deep terra cotta plinth; keyed semi-circular arched doorway with winged cherubs to spandrels and flanked by fluted composite pilasters to central bay; 4-light chamfered mullioned and transomed windows, with octapanel leaded-lights to upper lights, the window to left has inserted entrance to Aldgate East Underground Station in lower part; Blue Plaque to Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918), poet and painter. First floor left bay has Renaissance-style frieze under similar 4- light window and plain terra cotta frieze with THE PASSMORE EDWARDS LIBRARY in relief under swan-necked pediment; central bay slightly advanced curved balcony on brackets all under pedimented 2-light window with Renaissance-style cherub and ornament to tympanum; right bay has Renaissance-style frieze advancing to base of oriel with brackets and similar 3-light window. Second floor has pair of sashes to each bay and continuous terra cotta moulded cornice, below shaped gable with sash over left bay, central tower with keyed round window set in swan-necked pediment with domed roof, and festooned panel over right bay.
HISTORY: One of the earliest public libraries in London, Whitechapel was the first district in East London to vote for the establishment of a public library by referendum, for which Canon Barnett led the campaign. It was one of fifteen libraries in London funded by philanthropist Passmore Edwards and this building marks the first time this pair collaborated on a building. Various internal reconfigurations in early 20th Century such as conversion to open access in 1922. Bomb damage in 1940 to second floor and the Aldgate East Underground station entrance inserted in 1937.
Listed as a fine example of a Passmore Edwards library with rich Renaissance-style terracotta ornament, also having strong historic interest and associations with the adjacent Grade II* Whitechapel Art Gallery (q.v.), both buildings sharing benefactors Canon Barnett and Passmore Edwards, as well as the purpose of providing cultural and education resources for great social need in the late-Victorian East End of London.
Aldgate East Underground Station (north east entrance within listed Whitechapel Art Gallery) seen above left before its 2009 refurbishment and above right, after – note reinstated historic features such as the weather-vane and pediments to the gables lost during the Blitz in the 1940s.
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