London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [53]
The seal of boho approval came when Damien Hirst’s agent and the most important modern art dealer in town, Jay Jopling, set up the White Cube gallery at 48 Hoxton Square. Impoverished artists, however, are not newcomers to the area—in the 1960s, Bridget Riley set up an outfit here to find affordable studio space for British artists—but the latest wave this side of the millennium has changed the face of this formerly down-at-the-heels neighborhood. It’s now undeniably hip to be in Hoxton.
From the Barbican in The City to Whitechapel in the East End, as many as 25 art galleries have opened, showing the latest works of the YBAs (Young British Artists). A spread of trendy real estate has taken a firm grip across the City Road into E1, principally Shoreditch, Spitalfields, and “Banglatown”—the nickname for the neighborhood around Brick Lane where Bengali shops and homes have created a slice of south Asia. Where less-than-glam buildings for the poor (such as the Jewish Soup Kitchen off Commercial Street, Spitalfields) once stood are now loft-style luxury apartments. Boutiques, bars, clubs, and restaurants have followed in their wake, and the Eastside—as it has been coined—is unapologetically brimming with energy.
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Bevis Marks Synagogue.
This is Britain’s oldest and most splendid synagogue. The interior is embellished with rich woodwork for the benches and galleries, marble columns, and many plunging brass chandeliers. The wooden ark resembles a Wren-style screen and contains the sacred scrolls of the five books of Moses. When Cromwell allowed the Jews to return to England in 1655 (they had been expelled in 1290), there was no Jewish community, and certainly no place to worship openly. The site chosen to build a new synagogue in 1701 already had religious connections, as the house that stood here before, Burics Marks, was owned by the abbot of Bury St. Edmunds; over the years the name re-evolved. | Bevis Marks, 2 Heneage La., East End | EC3A 5DG | 020/7626–1274 | www.bevismarks.org | Mon., Wed., Thurs. 10:30–2, Tues., Fri. 10:30–1, Sun. 10:30–12:30 | Aldgate East, Liverpool St.
Fodor’s Choice | Geffrye Museum.
Here’s where you can discover what life was really like for the general masses in London (and it’s different from the grand, high-society town-house interiors of the rich royal boroughs). It’s a small museum where you can walk through a series of room sets that re-create everyday domestic interiors from the Elizabethan period through postwar 1950s utility to the present day. Originally, the museum was a row of almshouses for the poor (built in 1716 by Sir Robert Geffrye, former lord mayor of London) that provided shelter for 50 pensioners over the course of 200 years. The houses were rescued from closure by keen petitioners (the inhabitants were relocated to a healthier part of town) and were transformed into the Geffrye Museum in 1914. The former almshouses were restored to their original condition, with most of the internal woodwork intact, including the staircase, upper floors, closets, and paneling. There are also displays on the almshouses’ history and on the kinds of people who lived there. To discover more, you can also attend a regular “bring a room to life” talk. The museum’s extension wing houses the 20th-century galleries, a lovely café overlooking the garden, and a bookshop. | 136 Kingsland Rd., East End | E2 8EA | 020/7739–9893 | www.geffrye-museum.org.uk | Free | Tues.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. and bank holidays noon–5 | Old St., then Bus 243; Liverpool St., then Bus 149 or 242.
Fodor’s Choice | Dennis Severs’ House.
Enter this extraordinary time machine of a house with your imagination