I am faut de mieux becoming a vehicle for the latest information on the campaign to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It happens that, as has been expected, Historic England, the public body tasked with the protection and preservation of the historic environment, has come out in favour of the scheme to turn the Bell […]
I missed Rowan Moore’s sensible and well informed account of the arguments surrounding the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in yesterday’s Observer. As he says, the new plans make efforts to retain some elements of its former use as a tourist attraction. But this is not the same as retaining a stronger sense of the long history […]
This morning’s reading should consist of a reading of the account by Nigel Taylor, the senior foundry man at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, of its closure (http://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/02/10/nigel-taylor-tower-bell-production-manager/). The Hughes, who owned it, had run out of the will to keep it going: the market for church bells is precarious; Whitechapel was not the easiest place […]
One of the benefits of the application to Tower Hamlets for a change-of-use of the Bell Foundry (as if it is not possible to maintain it as a bell foundry) is that the accompanying documentation contains a wealth of information, especially the Heritage Staement prepared by Alan Baxter, the conservation specialists. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry […]
The new owners of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, Raycliff Capital, an investment firm based in New York and owned by Bippy Siegal, a venture capitalist, have now put in for planning permission to change its use from being the last working, fully functioning bell foundry in London, with its origins in the sixteenth century, to […]
There is a further public consultation on the future of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry today. It was another opportunity to see the plans which have been drawn up by Raycliff for its development into a heritage centre-cum-café in the historic part of the building, with a hotel foyer in the space occupied by the building […]
The architects involved in the development of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry have, not surprisingly, launched a defence of their scheme in Architect’s Journal, which attempts to be scrupulous within the requirements of the current owner, a New York based venture capitalist who has been behind the development of Soho House. There are some minor inaccuracies. […]
I’ve just been tipped off by a contact in Hong Kong about the appearance of a very full and even-handed article about the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in this morning’s Financial Times by James Pickford, who has managed to interview all those involved. Historic England, who have apparently acted as paid consultants to the new owners […]
In the interests of those people interested in the planned redevelopment of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, I am providing a link to the proposals, which were posted earlier in the week:- http://thebellfoundry.co.uk/ It shows that the plans have been drawn up with care and with the help and advice of the Hughes, the previous owners. […]
Someone on my twitter account very kindly pointed me in the direction of a small book produced by Cafe Royal Books of photographs taken – I assume – in the 1960s by John Claridge, a very good East End photographer, of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry as it used to be (only available by post from […]
