88, Whitechapel High Street

This 1950s shop occupies an early 19th-century building, but its special interest lies entirely in two decorative metal relief signs from 1934–5 by the Polish-Jewish artist Arthur Szyk. These are his only known sculptural works and his sole surviving creation in the United Kingdom.

The Signs

The external sign is mounted over the shop entrance. It is a metal relief, painted gold and fixed to the wall. The design features a Magen David (Star of David) supported by two Lions of Judah rampant, each wielding a sabre. Below are two medallions decorated with Menorot (seven-branched candelabra). The lions' clawed feet rest on a thin turned base fixed to the wall.

The interior sign, above the lift entrance on the first floor, is the most striking feature. This second relief, painted in thick white paint, depicts traditional Jewish symbolism often found on Torah Arks. Two Lions of Judah hold the Luhot (the Tablets of the Law), inscribed with the first Hebrew letters of each of the Ten Commandments, topped by a crown (the Keter Torah or Crown of the Law). At the base is a Magen David with a heart at its centre. The lions' clawed feet rest on a frieze of volutes and swirls. Originally there were signs on each floor; all but this one were destroyed in a fire during the second half of the 20th century.

Exterior

The building is a typical 19th-century stock brick structure, stuccoed to the front, of four storeys and three window bays. The roof is concealed behind a parapet. This fabric is not of special architectural interest.

The shop front is of some interest. It is faced in polished granite, with brass door and window surrounds. Two display windows—one facing Whitechapel High Street, the other on the return to the alley—each have a single wide aperture between a fascia and stall riser, both of veined marble. Above the marble fascia is an eight-light aperture with brass surrounds in an Egyptian-inspired shape with battered sides. This mirrors the profile of the opening to the alley, creating an impression of symmetry that draws attention to the centrally placed external sign. White mosaic sits above the granite facing.

Interior

Inside, the shop retains features from its 20th-century refurbishment that are of some interest. These include dark wood panelling, largely concealed behind modern freestanding shelves, a staircase to the basement with a plain square newel post, and a prominent dentil cornice. The rest of the building's interior, apart from the second sign, is not of special interest.

History

The building dates from the early 19th century. The shop front, windows and parts of the interior were refurbished twice in the mid-20th century. The first refurbishment was by H P Sanders in 1934–5 for the Jewish Daily Post, a short-lived successor to the Jewish Express, as recorded in the drainage files at Tower Hamlets Local Studies Library. This work involved refurbishing the upper storey offices and erecting several signs depicting Jewish emblems, two of which survive. The Jewish Daily Post, established in 1926, ceased circulation in August 1935 shortly after this refurbishment.

The second reconfiguration dates from the 1950s, when the ground floor shop was refurbished for Alberts Menswear, who moved there in 1942 after their nearby premises were damaged in an air raid. In recognition of the building's continuing Jewish connections (Alberts were part of the Jewish rag trade), this refurbishment incorporated the older external sign into the shop front design. The shop front's design is in the 1930s fashion, as seen in the Egyptian-inspired Art Deco lights and the use of red neon, which continued in many commercial premises after the war.

The signs were designed by Arthur Szyk (1894–1951), a noted artist of Polish-Jewish origin. Szyk's authorship was ascertained by his biographer, Joseph Ansell, and further enquiries revealed that Szyk's daughter remembers the artist working on the commission, which she recalls was instigated by a Mr Solomon. Leaving London in 1940, Szyk became one of America's leading political artists by producing anti-Nazi cartoons during the Second World War. He was also a celebrated illustrator who created many works in the tradition of illuminated manuscripts. One such work was his Haggadah (the Passover story), published in London in 1940 after publishers in Poland and Czechoslovakia were reluctant to support the anti-Nazi work. For this reason, Szyk was in London sporadically from the early 1930s until 1940, when he toured Canada and the United States and eventually settled in the US after the Second World War. Szyk's work has recently been the subject of exhibitions at the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, both in Washington DC. The signs are related to Szyk's other work: for example, the design of the internal sign also appears in the title page for the Haggadah which Szyk created shortly after Germany annexed Austria in 1938, although it did not appear in the final published version. This is, however, the only composition by him executed in sculptural form.

Context

The Whitechapel area was home to the majority of Jewish émigrés in the 19th and early 20th centuries following the pogroms of the 1880s in Eastern Europe, and is an area of great significance to the history of Jewish people in Britain, both nationally and locally. Near 88 Whitechapel High Street, the synagogue at 19 Princelet Street, the Jewish soup kitchen on Brune Street, and the Jewish memorial to Edward VII on Whitechapel High Street (all Grade II) testify to the distinctively Jewish character of the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 1930s were a particularly significant decade, as evidenced by the anti-fascist demonstrations at Cable Street in 1936, which initially took place at Aldgate just metres from 88 Whitechapel High Street.

Significance

The two Szyk signs are of considerable special interest. The elegant designs are unique and by an artist of considerable importance in the Jewish history of the 20th century. Szyk is not known to have designed any other relief panels, and this is his only work in any medium in the United Kingdom. The signs at 88 Whitechapel High Street are thought to be one example of a very small number of historic Jewish commercial signs in the country. They use recognisable and distinctive Jewish emblems or language to announce the identity of the proprietors and are a prominent advertisement of ethnicity, suggesting the proprietors' confidence that the design would be well received in what was a distinctively Jewish area. This is of special historic interest in the context of the 1930s, when persecution of Jews increased in Europe and tensions in the East End of London resulted in clashes. The early 19th-century building at 88 Whitechapel High Street is by no means special in a national context, and the shop front, while interesting, is not remarkable.