WORKHOUSE

TO OURHOUSE
A COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY PROJECT WITH SHUFFLE IN ST CLEMENTS
EXPLORING THE HERITAGE AND WEALTH OF HUMAN HISTORY FROM THE
BEGINNINGS AS AN INSTITUTION AND NOW AS A CREATIVE SHARED SPACE.
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE HERITAGE LOTTERY ; SHUFFLE, QUEEN MARY
UNIVERSITY, EAST SIDE COMMUNITY HERITAGE + LOCAL PEOPLE CREATED
AN EXHIBITION, A SERIES OF ENTERTAINING EVENINGS WITH FILM AND
PERFORMANCE, AN ONLINE ORAL HISTORY WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE
FORMER ST CLEMENTS HOSPITAL - TRANSFORMED A SPACE WHICH WAS
ONCE ABOUT ISOLATION INTO ONE OF CONNECTION, MEANING + LEARNING.
INTRODUCTION
The exhibition was compiled and designed by the Shuffle team who had been working in the
grounds of the derelict, former hospital St Clements in Mile End for the past year. Shuffle was
always concerned with the history of the building - the impact it had on individual lives and the
wider societal understandings that informed the institution initially as a Workhouse, then as an
Infirmary and finally as a Psychiatric Hospital - until it closed in 2005.
Because of the relatively recent closure there were still many people in the area who had
worked there or been patients there, as well as many people who were curious about what went
on in there. In our previous events, namely a film festival and a weekend exploring the mind
and mental illness there had been much interest by local people and others to gain a fruther
understanding of the history of the building and to address this directly.
Shuffle exists to work within spaces and communities and to make places in the city more ac-
cessible and culturally inclusive through direct use and interaction. At St Clements we set out to
do this with the Heritage Lottery Grant - with a specific conecentratuion on the heritage of the
building and bringing it (in its dereliction) to a standard of use, sufficient to hold a high quality
exhibition and to host evenings of events that captured the publics imaginiation and explored
the theme more deeply. To do this we chose to focus on the large, formal room which after
development will become the main community space and transform it into an informative and
beautifully presented Community Living Room. We worked with local organisations Mile End
Films, East Side Community Heritage, Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and Queen Mary
University as well as many old patients and staff to further our programm
As well as delving deep into the history of St Clements, we took this opportunity to further
connect with the history of the surrounding area with a series of walks. For the opening of the
exhibition we worked with a Cordon Bleu trained chef to re-create the Workhouse Kitchen. The
surrounding rooms were dressed by a set designer in the tradition of the workhouse aesthetic
and the community living room became a place for performances, music and talks. For the other
evenings the proceedings were run by Mile End Films, and a short film festival was curated,
along with other comedy and culural acts and a presentation on Psychogeography by Ian
Sinclair. The following pages document this weel of happenings, which were wamrly recieved by
the community and well attended by the local community and beyond.
In addition to the live events, the reserach and presentation of the first comprehensive history
of St Clements in Mile End, we arranged for an oral history recording booth to be set up in the
exhibition and we recorded the histories of past staff and patients for our online archives. We
also created a contemplative Memory Room for visitors to record their memories of St Clem-
ents and their feelings and/or reactions to the exhibition and events in a written format which
we compiled into a book.
Portraits of former patients and staff that accompanied the walls of the oral
history recordings room. Many new oral histories were recorded during the
exhibition from visitors stopping by and the space prompting old memories
An evocative watercolour from the London Metropolitan Archives which was one
of the historic documents shown in the exhibition. This image shows an idealised
version of the workhouse and grounds pre-construction in 1848. The Chapel and
Eastern Wing were bombed in the war and were replced with modern structures.
Bow Road 1850 with St Clements in the background. St Clements is the only re-
maining Victorian or Georgian building in the present day from this viewpoint.
The Board of Guardians room which was originally where the owners of the workhouse dined (and the
scene of many elaborate dinners) was restored to its state as recorded in one of the photos featuring in
the exhibition from the 1920s. The current paint job was scraped away in parts and a report compiled
and displayed about the original colourings and design of the room which was not visible from the black
and white photo.
The grand staircase leading up to the main exhibition room was complete with notes
on the architectural features from our Heritage Architect, Nicola De Quincey. Parts
of the building which will be retained were listed as well as dates and styles attrib-
uted to certain changes and embellishments.
A full report on the original colourings and design of the main Board of Guardians
room where the exhibition was held was produced showing marble effect columns
and gold cornicing.
University students reading the exhibition content during a set break in one of the
band performances in the evening.
PARTICIPATION
The community living room drew a constant stream of people throughout the day and into the
evening. The majority of the people during the day were young families and retired people
taking part in the organised walks or stopping in after the grocery shopping to investigate the
exhibition. The evenings were predominantly a mixture of local young people and Queen Mary
University students.
There were formally organised visits from Central Foundation Girls School, Eco - Therapy, Mile
End Community Project, Friends of East End Loonies and surrounding churches and elderley
peoples groups during the exhibition.
Daytime visits averaged at 50 per day and 80 in the evenings.
The exhibition was facilitated by volunteers from the local community and knowledgable Shuffle
staff were on hand to answer further questions about the building and the social history.
Shuffle uses creativity and imagintaion to inspire people and bring a diverse set of people
together. This is done through music, food, film, talks and walks. All events other than entry to
the exhibition were charged a small fee to ensure audience attendance. This money went to the
participants and guides of each event to improve the quality of the experience for the audience
through props, reaserch time and presentation.
The Community Living Room at capacity during the talk by Ian Sinclair on Psyche-
ogeography and East London. Ian Sinclair later used this room and view onto the
old workhouse for his backdrop at the Tates Ruin Lust video. It is through a new
appreciation for the history and artistic interpratations of the City such as psyche-
ogreography that attracts many people looking to connect in new ways with their
environment.
The religious and moral arguments for the development of the Victorian institu-
tions of the Workhouse were central to the debate at the time. Todays culture is in
opposition to many of these views and the opportunity to explore how some of the
ideas that governed the workhouse were played out in a pop up kitchen serving
gruel , porter and adorned with slogans that would have graced the walls at the
time.
DAY TIME VISITORS - many people came to see
the exhibtion during their lunch break or as
part of their walk home. The exhibition was
laid out in chronological order and comprised
many old photographs and peices of informa-
tion about the functioning of the workhouse +
psychiatric hospital. The exhition also featured
an oral history room and a memory room for
people to contribute their understanding or
lived experience of the place.
Browsing time usually took between 30 mins -
1 hour.
NIGHT TIME VISITORS - During the evening
music, film and talks complemented the exhibi-
tion. The atmospheric light and interactive
events saw the building and history come alive
for people as a strange discovery in the long
- cold february nights - in a part of Mile End
where there is a distinct lack of cultural events
in the evening.
Photographs were taken when inmates admitted into the workhouse for the re-
cords.
Once a place of social segregation and isolation - the Community Living Room and
the exhibition Workhouse to Ourhouse meant local people could take ownership of
this space steeped in history and create something new and hopeful for the future
whilst remembering the near and distant past.