Monica Ali: 19 Princelet Street, The Museum of Immigration

Critic's Choice: London’s Most Important Building

16 May 2011

At the Geological Society, Piccadilly

Monica Ali. Photo by John Foley.
Young museum makers from East London, at work in the hidden Victorian Synagogue at 19 Princelet Street, Europe's first cultural institution dedicated to diversity. Photo: Tom Lindsey/19 Princelet Street.

As part of the lecture series ‘Critic’s Choice: London’s Most Important Building’, author Monica Ali selects 19 Princelet Street, an unrestored Huguenot master silk weaver's home, whose shabby frontage conceals a rare surviving synagogue. Ali highlights that despite its unique architectural, cultural and spiritual significance, ‘it is so desperately in need of funding it can't afford to open to the public for more than a few days a year’. As she states ‘many aspects of Britain's past are written inside the walls of this magical building, which both reflects our past and raises questions about our future.’

Respondents include: Dr Anne Kershen, Dr Elizabeth McKellar and Sir Richard MacCormac RA.

Special open days have been arranged by 19 Princelet Street to celebrate Monica Ali’s talk on Sundays 22 and 29 May from 12 noon–5pm.
Visit www.19princeletstreet.org.uk for further information.

6.30–8pm; followed by a drink

Read more about the Critic's Choice series

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• Royal Academy of Arts