Raine's House, sometimes called Raine House, is a
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
house in Raine Street,
Wapping, London E1. This listing recognises the building's special architectural or historic interest.
History
This structure was built in 1719, and founded as a
charity school by Henry Raine (1679–1738),
who had made a large sum of money from selling alcohol. As a devout Christian, he felt that he should be philanthropic, and decided to found a school where poor children could get a free education. This school was built in the neighbourhood where he lived and he named it "the Lower School". It originally accommodated 50 boys and 50 girls.
[Website of the Anglican parish of St George-in-the-East with St Paul]
(accessed June 10, 2015).
In recent years, this building has been used as a community centre, and as offices of the
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.
John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy of ...
. The original school moved, and is now called the
Raine's Foundation School, on Approach Road,
Bethnal Green.
Physical features
The building has a
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
front, with giant
pilasters.
[Cherry, Bridget et al. ]
London: East
', p. 29 (Yale University Press, 2005). There is a stone plaque over the door, at the center of the building: "Come in & learn your duty to God & man. 1719".
Two of the window openings on the second floor have
pedimented niches. Those niches were originally occupied by two contemporary figures of a boy and a girl, but they and other original objects from the school were moved when the school moved, and they are still preserved.
The niches are now filled by replicas.
External links
National Archives Records of Raine's Schools Foundation, Arbour Square, Stepney, London E1"Schools: Raine's Foundation Schools"
British History Online
Further reading
*Rose, C.M. ''Raine's Foundation: an East End Charity School 1716–80'' (University of Bristol thesis 1985)
*Fuller, Tony. ''Henry Raine, Brewer of Wapping'' (2001)
*''Raine's Prospect 1719–1969'' (Raine's Foundation 1969)
*''Raine's Foundation: Its Origins and History'' (1914)
*''Henry Raine and the History of Raine's Schools'' (edited by Alan Johnson for the Old Raineans, 2004)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raine's House
Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Wapping