Fournier Street - Religious Extremes

Religious Extremes

Following the terminal decline of London's silk weaving industry at the end of the Georgian period, both Fournier Street and Brick Lane became established as the heart of the Jewish East End. Although there had been a small Jewish community in the East End for some time, a large number of Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia moved to Spitalfields in the 19th century and founded a thriving community. Many new schools, cultural activities and businesses were created, including the Jews Free School and the Jewish Chronicle newspaper (the oldest Jewish English language weekly in the world).

In 1898 the Methodist Church at the eastern extremity of Fournier Street was converted into the Maz'ik Adath Synagogue. This building had been constructed as a Huguenot Chapel ('La Neuve Eglise') in 1743-4, had also served as a Protestant church and would later be converted during the 1970s to become the London Jamme Masjid (Great Mosque) as the area then evolved to become the present day heart of the Bengali community. This building's changing use in responding to the changing religious needs of the surrounding population over its 280 year long history is symbolic of Spitalfields' role in immigration and in providing 'refuge'. Upon a wall on the south side there is still to be seen the large sundial carved with the inscription "Umbra sumus" a quote taken from Horace's odes meaning "We are shadows".

A recent addition to the building is the 29 metres high, 1.2 metres wide 'minaret-like structure' erected on the corner of Fournier street and Brick lane in December 2009. This sculpture forms the centrepiece of the Brick Lane Cultural Trail project The lower part of the tower is formed by a number of mounted stainless steel drums covered with a geometric flower of life pattern. Coloured lighting is concealed within the structure and it is illuminated at night. The uppermost 8 metres are composed of a stainless steel pole topped with an illuminated half crescent moon.

Fournier Street also has the church of Christ Church Spitalfields at its western extremity, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a former assistant of Christopher Wren, and built between 1714 and 1729. This Grade 1 listed building is widely considered to be the highest expression of English Baroque architecture. The foundations were laid in 1714, and construction of the walls took place over the following years, although the upper stages of the tower and spire were not built until the late 1720s, and the church was finally consecrated on 5 July 1729.