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, the house soon became home to 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 the website at http://www.19princeletstreet.org.uk/.

Click here to see the location on a map.

^{^Corrected picture dontated by M. J. Maccardini^}