St George’s-in-the-East, Passmore Edwards Public Library, Cable Street

The St George-in-the-East Vestry voted to build a library but realised that the one penny on the rates, that they were allowed to raise, would only raise £600.  This was  just enough to cover the running costs but insufficient to build the library.  They asked  for and received from the public enough donations to build the library, with Passmore Edwards providing a substantial amount.  

The St George’s-in-the-East Passmore Edwards Public Library was built in Cable Street next to Vestry Hall.  The Library was 49 feet wide and 96 feet in depth.  Built of Portland Stone and brick, the Library ran down the side of Prospect Place.  The Library’s Foundation Stone was laid on 29th September 1897 and opened on Saturday 29th October 1898 at 3pm by Lord Russell of Killowen, then, the Lord Chief Justice of England. In 1929 a Children’s Library was added.  

The St-George-in-the-East Vestry Hall was built in 1860, again of Portland Stone. In the Local Government Act of 1899, the Vestry form of Local Government was swept away.  In its place was created the Stepney Borough Council, who decided to use the Vestry Hall as its Town Hall until they could build a new civic home. In 1900 the Stepney Borough Council moved in.

During the Blitz of 1941, the Library was totally destroyed by bombing and gutted by fire.  The shell of the Library, in a highly dangerous state, was pulled down. The site was cleared and remains empty today.  A temporary Library was built in St George-in-the-East Churchyard with access by Library Place, formally Prospect Place.  The Library was moved in the late 1960s when a new Library was built in Watney Market.  

The Old Town Hall has been neglected since the Council moved out in the 1960s.  It has been used for a variety of Council offices since then.  However the magnificent interior, although “down on its heels”, still retains much of its former grandeur.  On the west wall of the Old Town Hall, on the Library site, is a huge colourful mural, painted in 1983, of scenes from the nearby “Battle of Cable Street” of 1938.