Cripplegate Institute

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Former building of the Cripplegate Institute. In the background the Barbican Estate

The Cripplegate Institute , also known as the Cripplegate Free Library, is a building on Golden Lane in the City of London . From its construction in 1893 to 1896 until it moved out in 1987, it housed the Cripplegate Foundation , a non-profit organization of the parish of St Giles Without Cripplegate in the City of London.

The foundation, in turn, was created in 1894 by amalgamating several community organizations, some of which have existed since 1500. The Cripplegate Institute was purpose built to house the Foundation and its facilities. Funding of the £ 50,000 for the building came from the community and through support from the City of London through the City of London Parochial Charities Act of 1883 .

The former building of the Cripplegate Institute has been a listed building (Grade II) under monument protection since 1987 .

It was designed by Sidney RJ Smith with Frederick Hammond in 1894 and constructed of red brick. The opening took place on November 4, 1896 in the presence of the Lord Mayors of London . From 1987 to 1992 the Ergon Design Group converted it into an office building . The entrance hall was retained. There are various ornaments on the outside.

The design of the entrance indicates the building's former educational purposes. On the roof of the building, directly above the door, there are performances of education, with science and art at the side. Next to the entrance is the personified science sitting at a control device for a steam engine , while the personified art holding a bust and a building.

The five-story building contained libraries, classrooms, conference rooms and a large main hall. The main hall on the first floor can be reached via a marble staircase. Contemporaries particularly liked the room in which the unemployed could search the morning papers for job offers. An amateur theater troupe existed at Cripplegate for several decades and premiered George Bernhard Shaw's play The Philanderer in 1905 . The play was almost ten years old at the time and was being held back by the censors. It should take another two years for a professional production. A few years later, one of the institute's guests was a young Alfred Hitchcock , who completed various dance courses at the Cripplegate Institute in the 1910s, and who took care of his social life.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b c Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London, 1997, London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8 , p. 508
  2. ↑ a b c Library (1896) s1-8 (1): 566-567. doi : 10.1093 / library / s1-8.1.566 .
  3. ↑ George P. Landow: Pendimental and other sculpture on the Cripplegate Institute , Victorianweb
  4. ^ Judith Evans: The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw McFarland, 2003 ISBN 0786413239 , p. 31
  5. ↑ Patrick McGilligan: Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light HarperCollins, 2010 ISBN 0062028642 , p. 37

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '16.6 "  N , 0 ° 5' 40.8"  W.