The Remarkable Sugar Houses of Georgian London – completely vanished


Early 19th century sugar house later Monastery Tea Warehouse: Dock Street
copyright London Metropolitan Archives Collage No: 281184

A talk by Andrew Byrne

on Wednesday 29 May at

The Gallery, Alan Baxter Ltd , 75 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EL

Except for Churches, the sugar refineries of Georgian London were the tallest buildings in the capital. With the establishment of the vast complexes of Docks in the East End after 1800, new refineries, better known in their day as sugar houses, sprang up in Wapping, Shadwell and Whitechapel, replacing those in the City. They would not last long, seemingly vanishing overnight in the 1870s. Sometimes they didn’t last that long, prone as they were to destruction by fire and explosion. The astonishing story of these remarkable buildings is little known and yet they played a huge role in the daily life of so many in Georgian and Victorian London.  
Andrew Byrne is an architectural historian and has written extensively about Georgian London. He is the founder of LONDON 1840, which is building a 1:1500 scale wooden model of London as it was in that year.  

The talk will begin at 6:15 for 6:30 start. Please join us for wine and patties afterwards but we will finish at 8:30 sharp.

You can find details of how to get there at http://alanbaxter.co.uk/contact/. The nearest public transport is Farringdon tube and Farringdon mainline stations, both of which have exits onto Cowcross Street.

Tickets: Members £16.00 Non-members £18.00 Students £5

Bookings can be made direct via Eventbrite or by following the Book Tickets menu option on this website.

Anne M Powers