Spitalfields Shops

These buildings were one of the last examples in Brushfield Street, Spitalfields, of a fourth-rate shop (in the Georgian system of rating properties).  Unfortunately, the previous owners had tried to demolish the buildings without permission.  They managed to completely demolish one, and partially demolish the other.  I was called in by the new owner for whom I was working on other projects.  Another architect was already working on it but with little knowledge of historical buildings and it was agreed that I would work alongside him on the aesthetic side of the rebuilding.  The watercolours shown here were the original sketch proposals which I ultimately developed into 1:10 and full size drawings.

In developing the designs, I visited the half-demolished building and it almost became an archaelogical dig to establish profiles, mouldings and details.  I had been given a 1940 photograph of no.10 which gave me enough detail to replicate the original.  Having established the first design, I produced a number of new designs which would sit alongside no.10 comfortably, using similar profiles, details and drawing from other local houses of the same period in the area.  I also developed these design details for the architectural interiors.

These recent Google Earth shots show the shops 35 years on, having been through a number of different owners. I can’t say that the pale grey colour does anything to enhance them  – deeper richer colours look better, but it’s interesting to see how good they still look after several decades.