56 Artillery Lane is an 18th-century

Grade I listed building 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 ...

Spitalfields Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

, London. The building is situated in the Artillery Passage, and was merged with the now

Grade II listed building 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 ...

58 Artillery Lane after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

; their combined shop front is one of the oldest in London, and the combined building is used by

Raven Row A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

as a free art exhibition centre.

History

It is not known exactly when the first house at 56 Artillery Lane was built, although a house appears at the location on a map of 1677. The original name of the building was 3 Raven Row. During the early 18th century,

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

documents show that the building was owned by a

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...

named Mathew Hebart and later a weaver named Thomas Wilkes. The building was rebuilt between 1750 and 1756, in order to accommodate

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

silk merchants Nicholas Jourdain and Francis Rybot who wanted to use the building as a silk shop; it is believed that

Sir Robert Taylor Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788) was an English architect and sculptor who worked in London and the south of England. Early life Born at Woodford, Essex, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and started working as a stonemason and sculptor, ...

was the architect. The 1756 building, including its shop front, still exists today, making it one of the oldest shop fronts in London. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the building was used as a grocery shop. After the

, 56 and 58 Artillery Lane were merged into a single office building, and 56 Artillery Lane became a

in 1950. In 1972, the building was refurbished after a major fire. In 2006, an excavation of 56 and 58 Artillery Lane took place, and the buildings were later sold to Alex Sainsbury, heir to the

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

food chain, who converted them into the

free art exhibition space.

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Historic England page
Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets 1756 architecture Art galleries in London