The Former New Peoples Palace

The Former New People's Palace

This is the former New People's Palace, built in 1936-7 by the architectural practice Campbell Jones, Sons and Smithers. The interior was designed by cinema architect George Coles, and the sculptural decoration was created by Eric Gill. The building underwent alterations in 1955-6 by Playne and Lacey, with further changes at later dates.

The building comprises a large auditorium accessed through a foyer facing Mile End Road, with a smaller hall positioned above the foyer running transversely across the building.

The exterior is clad in buff-coloured brick with a grey granite plinth. The main façade facing Mile End Road features reconstructed Portland stone cladding, which continues partway along the eastern return. Originally only the centre section of the block was stone-faced, but this was extended to include the side sections and return during the 1950s refurbishment. The main façade displays five tall vertical windows with metal glazing bars; those on the first floor follow the original design, while those on the ground floor date from the 1950s and replaced the former entrance. Between the two floors are five low-relief panels by Eric Gill depicting Drama, Music, Fellowship, Dance and Sport. This central stone-faced section is flanked by projecting bastions containing the staircase lobbies. These bastions retain their original bronze entrance doors with carved architraves and a simple fluted cornice band. Above each door are further relief panels by Gill showing Recreation. The bronze flagpole sockets and stone flagpoles that these bastions once supported have been removed. Staircase bays flank the bastions and conclude the elevation. The western return and rear of the building are obscured by later construction, though these were always treated in a more utilitarian manner. The eastern return features a single-storey link corridor of 1955-6, built in reconstructed Portland stone with horizontal banded rustication. This corridor contains a large square lobby with a wide portal lit by a round lantern.

Inside, the building was deliberately designed with restrained and subtle decoration, intentionally avoiding the ornate interiors typical of contemporary cinemas so as not to clash with various social activities. The foyer has been refurbished but retains its original travertine marble paving and coffered ceiling. The small hall has been entirely modernised in its décor. The main auditorium, by contrast, remains largely unaltered. It retains half-height walnut panelling to the stalls and stage, above which plasterwork decoration frames the proscenium arch and two boxes. The boxes preserve their original curved balcony fronts and Deco-style metal-work grilles. The main balcony is complete with original seating, lights, metal grilles, railings and further plasterwork surrounding two large windows. The ceiling of the auditorium is hexagonal with a coffered band. A first-floor foyer retains ceiling plasterwork, lighting and double doors from the original scheme. The 1950s link corridor, which preserves its original finishes, contains a large memorial stone to JT Barber Beaumont, the philanthropist whose bequest funded the People's Palace. Barber Beaumont died in 1841 and was originally buried in a vault in the East London Cemetery, now known as Shandy Park; this stone was moved here in 1979.

The building was inspired by Walter Besant's 1882 book "All sorts of conditions of men", which envisioned a "palace of delights" offering evening classes, a library, reading rooms and recreational activities. The idea was developed by a group of Unitarian philanthropists, trustees of an endowment left by Barber Beaumont for the "mental and moral improvement" of the neighbourhood. Following public donations made during fears of social unrest in the East End in the winter of 1886-7, they purchased the Mile End site from the Drapers' Company, which had previously housed Bancroft's School and Almshouses. The original People's Palace had been constructed in stages from 1886 to 1892 to designs by ER Robson, and now forms the Queen's Building of Queen Mary University. It is listed at Grade II. The original Palace building proved more successful in its educational than social purposes, and eventually came under the sole use of the technical schools established by the Drapers' Company next to it. These schools were known as East London College until 1934, when they received a royal charter and became Queen Mary University.

In 1931, fire damaged the main concert hall of the original Palace, necessitating construction of this New People's Palace. The building was opened by King George VI on 13 February 1937. This was the King and Queen's first public drive through London following Edward VIII's abdication, with the royal route proceeding through the Mall, the City, and on to Whitechapel and the East End. The visit continued a tradition of royal patronage of the People's Palace established when Queen Victoria opened the original building as the first official engagement of her Jubilee year in 1887. The new building received considerable attention in architectural and local press, with photographs and plans published widely and local coverage celebrating it as a "new and even more magnificent successor" that was "finer and more beautiful" than the old Palace.

Originally the building contained two halls, a foyer and a basement restaurant. The foyer was accessed by a flight of granite steps at the centre of the façade, beneath a bronze canopy with concealed lighting panels and travertine marble-clad reveals. The foyer featured bronze ticket booths and travertine marble surfaces with Indian laurel doors and bronze fittings. The second hall contained three mural panels by Phyllis Bray. The exterior bore two flagpoles with bronze and stone Deco-style sockets, and the Portland stone panel at the centre of the façade was inscribed "The People's Palace / MCMXXXVI" in slender, sans-serif capitals.

In 1954, Queen Mary University acquired the New People's Palace as it expanded. Between 1955 and 1956, the university's architects Playne and Lacey removed the façade lettering, bronze canopy, granite steps and flagpoles. They relocated the main entrance to the eastern return, where they added a link block connecting to the main Queen's Building.