Acquired: 2004
Works instructed: On site October 2004
Available from: January 2005

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 number 13 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.)

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

Princelet Street is available for up to 6 people. Please contact the Booking Office for further information.

Back to New Landmarks listing