LouisBerk.com photography

The Great Synagogue and the East London Mosque in Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel

The Synagogue and Mosque Dome in 2009. As the mosque exapanded over the next few years this view disappeared.

This is a story based on my photography about two different religious communities that co-existed for more than 60 years in Whitechapel. Both have seen dramatic changes in the size of their communities and the impact on their places of worship.

The renovated frontage of Empire House, August 2019

2019 in Whitechapel has been a disappointing year as far as the preservation of its heritage buildings. In March the fight to preserve the former Georgian public house, known locally as Tadman’s Corner, on Jubilee Street and Stepney Way was lost and the building demolished.  Work has begun on boarding up the former London Hospital Outpatients Building on Turner Street and it has been sold off with demolition impending. There is much angst about plans to alter the use and remodel the Bell Foundry. Many other smaller battles are being joined across the district in an attempt to stop the wrecking ball and the spread of bland ‘spreadsheet’ designed buildings.

It is therefore very satisfying to relate the story of a preservation success: Empire House, on New Road.

The East Winner is a sandbank off the coast of Hayling Island, in Hampshire - England, and at low tide it extends for a mile into the Solent - a stretch of water separating the South Coast from the Isle of Wight. When the low tide coincides with sunset a magical stretch of land appears for a short time and attracts walkers and horse riders. Visit my new gallery of photographs taken during my visit to the East Winner in July 2018.

"Walkers, Riders and a Ferry To France"