Migrant museum in danger of collapse
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Huguenot silk merchant's home that campaigners have spent 20 years trying to turn into Britain's first museum of immigration is in danger of collapsing.
The five-storey Georgian terraced house built in 1719 conceals a synagogue constructed over the garden 150 years later and houses an exhibition dedicated to immigrants to the East End of London over three centuries.
The house is at 19 Princelet Street, just off Brick Lane in Spitalfields, the heart of the Bangladeshi community. The charity has been unable to find the £3m needed to make the building safe and tomorrow it will be placed on English Heritage's register of Buildings at Risk. Susie Symes, chairwoman of the Spitalfields Centre charity, said if the Grade II building deteriorated further the chance to preserve the experience of immigrants in the way the United States did at the Ellis Island museum in New York would be lost.
The building is supported by internal props. Ms Symes said she hoped that once it was categorised as at risk, bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund could be persuaded to give it a grant.
"Now is the perfect time for a museum like this because it brings home much we have gained as a society from the different forms of incomers, be they asylum-seekers or economic migrants," she added.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments