Comments on: All Change at 27 Fournier St

By: Clare Barclay

Clare Barclay — Wed, 07 May 2025 09:52:37 +0000

Hi, I lived in 27 Fournier Street for part of a year in 1991, and visited regularly for several years afterwards. My bedroom was called the library. I bookmarked this site and just went back to look at it, and was devastated to discover that the photos have vanished. I particularly loved the photo of Tamzin in the extra long bathtub, in which I had bathed. Is there any way that you can put the pictures back up? If not, can you send them to me? They are the only before-the-renovation pictures that I know of, and I want the memories.

Thank you, Clare Barclay

By: Asma Begum

Asma Begum — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 13:03:33 +0000

Lovely read Gentle Author. I have only just come across this some 12 years later, but still I was completely soaked up in the history and glory of 27 Fournier Street. Like many Bangladeshi migrant men in the area, my late-father Ashab Uddin used to work in the building when it was textiles sweatshop in 1980, just before its restoration by the Spitalfields Trust.
Feels surreal to think that my father toiled within those walls to bring in the bread and butter for his family. So much has changed indeed.

By: Lesley Lloyd

Lesley Lloyd — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 11:53:57 +0000

I, too, would love to step inside this house. I am a direct descendant of Peter(Pierre) and Margaret(Marguerite) Bourdon who built this lovely home. Next month I shall stand outside it to have my photo taken – probably the nearest I’ll get to looking round!

By: judy way nee Agace

judy way nee Agace — Thu, 09 May 2019 12:55:48 +0000

My late father Frederick Agace was a direct descendent of Obadiah Agace who occupied the house in 1759. He was a silk mixed with worsted weaver and traded under the name of Obadiah Agace and sons, had undertaken in 1745 to raise forty one men.

By: Paul Drozdz

Paul Drozdz — Mon, 21 May 2018 19:35:34 +0000

What a fascinating post – made even more so by the fact that my direct descendent Obadiah Agace lived in the house in 1759. He had a silk weaving and worsted business who traded as Obadiah Agace and Sons and was from French Hugenot stock.
As an avid photographer and amateur historian I would live to be able to visit the house and record where my relative lived and worked more than 250 years ago

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:46:28 +0000

I know I am commenting on an 8 year old post but was led here from another 2018 post. I have been a fan of your blog (and books) for a long time but must have missed this wonderful, poignant, slightly melancholic post when it was first up. I feel like 2010 was a bit of a turning point for London and it is no surprise that this house full of actors and artists ended up being sold for multiple millions of pounds. Whilst London and the East End in particular was already heavily “gentrified” it feels like the last 8 years has marked the end of the “shabbier” bits of the city. Whether it is the Crossrail development in Soho and Denmark St, the spiffing up of Kings Cross, the development of Nine Elms and the Battersea Power Station or the commercialisation and gentrification of Spitalfields, Shoreditch and Hoxton, it feels like the second decade of this century has been one of endless development and (in many cases) a “blandification” (I know that’s a terrible made-up word!) of the inner city. I only arrived in London in 1999 (from Australia) so had missed the “old” Spitalfields but I was lucky enough to live there for a couple of years in the early 2000’s and just loved it but now even that Spitalfields has changed so much. Your blog is a wonderfull document and reminder of times past in this magical and historical part of London – thank you!

By: Denise Hoffman

Denise Hoffman — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:18:31 +0000

Dear Gentle Author, I absolutely love your stories, photos and sketches! I was born and grew up in Hackney, but have lived in Pennsylvania over 20 years now. I have been researching my family history for over 3 years now, and found that most of my family originated in the Spitalfields area, with addresses on Fournier Street, Sclater Street etc., and according to census records, many of my ancestors were silk weavers from the above areas. To get a sneak look into my family neighbourhood, is extremely exciting to say the least! It turns my family history research into a passion beyond words! Thank you so very much!!

By: Tatras

Tatras — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:55:18 +0000

Tatras here (Pius’s mother)…er.. my “rural retreat” is actually Elephant and Castle, but Pius will be following in the proud footsteps of his father, local hero and mammoth tabby Humbert “Mr Bigs”, top cat of Walworth.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:57:30 +0000

I am now torn between commenting on the gentle author’s haunting, evocative tribute to a home and its caregivers, and mcneill’s thoughtful comment about old architecture, which precedes mine. Instead, I think I will simply say thank you to both for your insights about the wonderful patina time bestows on all objects, buildings, even humans who remain part of our lives despite the constant pull of time to wash all away in the flood of “new.”

By: mcneill

mcneill — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:59:24 +0000

In a curmudgeonly sort of way, I think the time is past when people built houses they could be truly comfortable in. Nowadays when I look at modern housing and (much) modern architecture, I come away with a depressed feeling that the building will remain entirely as it is until it is replaced; that nobody will leave a mark on it, that it will never be able to acquire history, that it has been specifically designed to prevent this kind of acquisition of richness. I am not able to form relationships with these buildings. I feel rejected by them. I think it’s because I can detect in the obsessively “tidy” lines, and the unnatural cleanliness and order, the sinister influence of COMPUTERS and DESIGN PROGRAMMES.

Therefore the space between us remains cold and uncharged by human experience.

Car enthusiasts talk about earlier models with feelings of love, such feelings for antique models are possible only because of the human influence present in the design of those cars, they are warm with humanity, they are crying out for an emotional rather than an intellectual response.

I hope the urban landscape is not dehumanised too much over the years. I suppose if we don’t replace what is inevitably lost over time, then that will be the future. But I am of a naturally glooooomy disposition. Perhaps all will be well. I hope so!