Shoreditch, including neighbouring Hoxton, has a fascinating history,
and contains a magnificent variety of buildings. Many have been turned
into workspaces, apartments, arts centres, antiques emporiums,
restaurants, markets and museums, including the Museum of the Home
(formerly the Geffrye Museum) which occupies 18th century almshouses,
and the Old Truman Brewery complex which today is filled with a vintage
market and food stalls. Round the corner, the Victorian Spitalfields
Market still thrives albeit no longer as a fruit and veg market, but as
a dining and retail shopping area and in Brick Lane there is the Jam
Masjid Mosque, that started life as a church, became a synagogue and is
now a focal point for many Muslims living in the area. Shoreditch is not
only home to the very first London council estate - Boundary Estate -
but is als a major centre of industry and commerce and many new
structures are appearing. In addition to their architectural merits many
of the buildings have a story to tell whether it is a connection with
Jack the Ripper or the lives of refugees and immigrants who have always
lived in Shoreditch's streets - Huguenot weavers, Jews escaping
persecution in Eastern Europe and more recently, the Bangladeshi
community - as well as East End Londoners. Shoreditch and Hoxton are
furthermore associated with entertainment dating back to Elizabethan
London's theatres and filled today with bars, dining, cafes, clubs and
galleries. Shoreditch and Hoxton in 50 Buildings explores the history of
this fascinating area of East London through a selection of its most
interesting buildings and structures, showing the changes that have
taken place over the years. The book will appeal to all those who live
in Shoreditch and Hoxton or who have an interest in the area.
