St Paul's Mission Room and Infant Nursery in Wellclose Square
St Paul's Mission Room and Infant Nursery in Wellclose Square
Record No
121614
Title
St Paul's Mission Room and Infant Nursery in Wellclose Square
Description
View of the St Paul's Mission Room and [Church for Seamen] Infant Nursery, later named 'Church House', on the north side of Wellclose Square (formerly Marine Square), Whitechapel, in the former Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, looking west. The Gothic-style three-storey building dates from 1874, and features stone name tablets built into the front wall. It is Grade II listed entry 1242432. The building was developed on the site of a former fire-engine house of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, led by the Reverand Daniel Greatorex (1829-1901) with a Mission Room for 'mothers' meetings', a storeroom at the ground floor accessed from the street, and a nursery on the upper floors accessed from the grounds of the Grade II listed entry 1357506 St Paul's Whitechapel CE Primary School, seen on the left, featuring a central clock tower. From 1880 the building also accommodated the Wilfred Cottage Hospital, with five beds for children in three attic rooms. The Reverend Joseph Williamson arrived at St Paul's, Dock Street, in 1952, an energetic reformer and an aggressive publicist. In 1953 part of the ground floor was converted for Angus Stuart Ltd, a firm based on the north side of the square, for packing sweets and canteen use. The day nursery continued above until 1956 when it was incorporated into the main school. In 1958 Williamson oversaw first-floor alterations to permit the former nursery and mission hall to open as Church House, a refuge ’for the reclamation of prostitutes and girls in moral danger’, with accommodation for two female live-in staff. Church House closed around 1981, and uses of the building since have been varied and short-lived. The building was boarded up around 2010, sold to Allsop property development company in 2022, and is currently for sale for conversion with a one and a quarter million pound price tag. Vehicles parked in the cul-de-sac in front of the building include a Morris Commercial J2 van, a DAF 66 saloon, and a Bedford CA Debonair Dormobile. A woman dressed in a leather jacket, culottes, and leather platform boots, can be seen in front of the ground-floor entrance.
Date of execution
1976
Section
The London Archives
Collection
LCC Photograph Library
Medium
photograph
Catalogue No
SC_PHL_01_404_76_8127
London picture map location
Exact
Subjects
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