Spitalfields has always been a place where worlds meet. Named after St Marie Spittle, a hospital for the needy founded in the twelfth century, the area sheltered friendly and adventurous foreigners from that time on, living just outside the City walls but originally not admitted to the community of London.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, it was the turn of French Protestants, known as Huguenots, to be washed here by the tide of events, bringing with them their skill and ingenuity. Some were silk weavers, who found an existing incorporation of similar craftsmen already established in Spitalfields. Begun in 1718, Princelet Street contains some of the earliest speculative housing in the area, built to accommodate this new influx.

These are not grand buildings but they are dignified and well-proportioned. They provided their early inhabitants with room both to live and work. (Although this house no longer has its workrooms, others on the street have either attic rooms with the long windows characteristic of the weaver or long, mansarded outbuildings serving the same purpose.)

The house came to us as a generous bequest from its last owner, Peter Lerwill, who had lovingly restored it. The building retains much of its original floor plan and fabric, most notably its simple panelling, partitions and other joinery.

Today Princelet Street is a quiet street with many of its original buildings. The City of London is but a background hum and yet Liverpool Street Station is only a few minutes walk away. Hawksmoor’s Christ Church, built in the same years as Princelet Street and now magnificently restored, stands on the corner, and Norman Foster’s 30 St Mary Axe (better known as the Gherkin) is not much farther away. The sleek cliffs of modernist glass along Bishopsgate stand in lieu of the city walls to contrast and complement the more intimate scale of the Spitalfields streets. At the end of Princelet Street is the colour and bustle of Brick Lane. It is an area of festivals and markets, cafes and alleyways, where you will bridge continents and centuries with ease.

View our history sheet for this Landmark

Sleeps: 6