Museum of Childhood London, Bethnal Green Building, V&A, Architect, Images

Museum of Childhood, London

Bethnal Green Architecture, east London – design by Caruso St John Architects

18 Feb 2020
V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment News

image courtesy of architects
V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment

16 Mar 2019
V&A Museum of Childhood Renewal, London
Architecture and design practice AOC win competition for V&A Museum of Childhood Renewal, most ambitious transformation of the building in its 145-history.

17 Sep 2011

Museum of Childhood Bethnal Green

Museum of Childhood Refurbishment – V&A

Cambridge Heath Road
Renewal date: 2006/07
Design: Caruso St John Architects

Photographs © Adrian Welch, taken on 17 September 2011

Location: just north of Bethnal Green tube station

Address: Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 9PA

Hours: 10:00 am – 5:45 pm, check with operators

Phone: 020 8983 5200

Opened: 1872

Original Architect: James William Wild

Caruso St John

The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green in the East End of London is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum (the “V&A”), which is the United Kingdom’s national museum of applied arts.

The official opening of the Bethnal Green Museum by the Prince of Wales in 1872.
The museum was founded in 1872 as the Bethnal Green Museum. The iron structure reused a prefabricated building from Albertopolis which was replaced with some early sections of the modern V&A complex. The exterior of the building was designed by James William Wild in red brick in a Rundbogenstil (round-arched) style very similar to that in contemporary Germany.

The building was used to display a variety of collections at different times, including the works which can now be seen at the Wallace Collection. In the 1920s, it began to focus on services for children, and in 1974 the director of the V&A, Sir Roy Strong, defined it as a specialist museum of childhood.

Of all the branches, the Bethnal Green Museum has the largest collection of childhood objects in the United Kingdom.

The mission of the museum is “To enable everyone, especially the young, to explore and enjoy the designed world, in particular objects made for and made by children.” It has extensive collections of toys, childhood equipment and costumes, and stages a programme of temporary exhibitions.

The museum closed in October 2005 for the second phase of extensive renovations, costing £4.7 m. This much-loved Bethnal Green building reopened on 9 December 2006 with changes including a new front entrance, gallery, displays and café.

Inside the museum is a cast iron statue by John Bell (1811–1896). It came originally from the Great Exhibition of 1851. “The Eagle slayer” shows a marksman shooting at an eagle which has slain the lamb that lies at his feet. The museum is a Grade II listed building.
Source: wikipedia

Location: Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, UK

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Triumph Pavilion Bethnal Green – Architecture Competition : Summer Showcase Pavilion

image : ArchTriumph

Buildings close by to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green include:

Museum of Childhood in London

London Building Project by Caruso St John

Recent Design by Caruso St John

Key Caruso St John Project

Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham – Lace Market, Nottingham, England
2009

image : Hélène Binet
Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham : English building – RIBA Award 2010

London Buildings

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London, UK