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The People’s Palace, Mile End Road |
| Queen Victoria formally opened the
Queen’s Hall of the People’s Palace, on the 16th November 1887.
A newspaper quote of the time call it, "The Albert Hall of East
London". Later, over a number of years, were added a swimming bath,
library, technical school, winter gardens, gymnasium, art school, lecture
rooms and rooms for social actives. Most of these were paid for by a
number of benefactors. The imposing clock tower and drinking fountain was
erected in 1890 by Herbert Stern in memory of his father.
Three strands had to come together to build the People’s Palace. The first strand was the idea This was found in a novel written by Walter Besant called "All Sorts and Conditions of Men"-a piece of social criticism. In the novel he puts forward the idea of a Palace of Delight where the inhabitants of the East End could be provided with culture and education. Something lacking in the East End, he argued, at the time! This struck a nerve of the time. The second strand came from a legacy of £13,000 left in trust by J T Barber Beaumont in 1841 for the "intellectual improvement and rational recreation and amusement for people living in the East End". The third strand came from the Drapers Company who had decide in 1874 to close the Bancroft Almshouses and to move Bancroft School to Woodford in Essex. This left the land free for development. The three stands were joined together when the Beaumont Trustees and the Drapers Company, together with the money raised from the public, came together to building a People’s Palace on the Bancroft site. Thereby making Besant’s idea into a reality. The People’s Palace became very popular with the public. However this was about to change when in 1931 a fire destroyed the Queen’s Hall, capable of seating 3,000 people. The magnificent front of the People’s Palace survived. But, the fire cast a shadow over the future of the People’s Palace. Whether to rebuild or not became a big local issue. However strong public support led to the building of a new Queen’s Hall, part of a new People’s Palace, with a front on the Mile End Road. The education part of the complex, which became the East London College and later the Queen Mary College, part of London University, became completely separate. The new People’s Palace, an art-deco building, was opened to the public by King and Queen on Saturday 12th December 1936. It was closed during the war being used by both local and national governments. In October 1948 the People’s Palace was reopened again after nine years of closure. Once again pantomimes, plays, concerts, ballet, variety, films could be seen. Also local schools formed orchestras and performed on the stage as well as visiting to see ballets, concerts and films. The East End was to lose another of its landmarks when the People’s Palace was closed in 1954 because of rising debts. The Stepney Borough Council who was funding the People’s Palace decided that they could no longer justify the costs and decided to close it. The People’s Palace was sold to Queen Mary College and now forms part of its campus. Some of the art-deco external parts of the building has been removed but enough remains to recall the magnificent building. Both the old and the new People’s Palace, standing close together, are a reminder of more enlightened days in the East End. |
