Adam Dant’s Club Row

In 2018, Adam Dant – the last artist on Redchurch St – was evicted from his studio on Club Row which has sat empty since then. In this series of watercolours, Adam contemplates the transformation of the place through time.

Roman Club Row Two Roman legionaries find a hiding place on Club Row as Boudica and her army parade down Ermine St (Shoreditch High St) to lay siege to London.

Medieval Club Row A ramshackle brick makers dwelling on the ‘swanfields’ with the tower of St Mary’s Spittal in the distance.

Tudor Club Row Archers such as ‘The Duke of Shoreditch’ practice and compete at ‘The Butts’ outside the city walls. The tower of Old St Paul’s can be seen in the distance as well as Shakespeare’s ‘Theatre’.

Georgian Club Row It is recorded that a ‘Rabbet shop’ stood on the site of 15 Club Row in the eighteenth century though it is not recorded whether the rabbits were sold for meat or fur, or both.

Victorian Club Row The owners and family of the nineteenth century sweet shop on Club Row lived in the tiny rooms above the shop.

Thirties Club Row Residents of the Boundary Estate – such as Joan Rose – recall buying pickled cucumbers from the window of a fried fish shop at 15 Club Row.

Forties Club Row Like much of the East End during the blitz, buildings on Club Row were destroyed or partially destroyed. Some say that unexploded ordinance is still buried under the streets.

Sixties Club Row  ‘The Peppermint Lounge’ on Club Row, according to many elderly cab drivers, was the place in London where a new dance craze called ‘The Twist’ emerged. It is not known what was enjoyed by visitors to the ‘Club Mirage’ or – in fact – how much the club lived up to its name.

Seventies Club Row The smell of blow-torched chickens once greeted shoppers who entered the portals of ‘Gongo Grocer’ where the Bengali butcher spent his days gutting, boning and singeing poultry.

Eighties Club Row Like all the Bengali Mini Cab offices in the area the ‘Fully Insuranced Tower Cars’ was replete with a huge aerial on the roof. Unfortunately, the mast seriously interfered with the television signals of neighbours leading to regular altercations.

Nineties Club Row As ‘The Gallerette,’ 15 Club Row played host to exhibitions and art extravaganzas when the area became a popular haunt for a young artistic crowd. One such exhibition was ‘God’s Largest Creature’, a life-size photocopy of an elephant by Keith Farquar. An invitation was extended to one of Chipperfield’s Elephants and to Glasgow’s Black Rose drinking club who enjoyed bottles of Elephant beer.

Twenty-twenties Club Row  In July 2018 the planning department approved the demolition of the ‘Atelier Dant’ at number 15 for the construction of what in the the recent past might have been called a ‘yuppie flat,’ yet nothing has occurred since then apart from a predictable accumulation of graffiti.

Adam’s Dant’s woodcut of ‘Arnold Circus as Mount Olympus’ is featured in this year’s Royal Academy Show

CLICK TO ORDER A COPY OF MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND BY ADAM DANT

Adam Dant’s MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND is a mighty monograph collecting together all your favourite works by Spitalfields Life‘s Contributing Cartographer in a beautiful big hardback book.

Including a map of London riots, the locations of early coffee houses and a colourful depiction of slang through the centuries, Adam Dant’s vision of city life and our prevailing obsessions with money, power and the pursuit of pleasure may genuinely be described as ‘Hogarthian.’

Unparalleled in his draughtsmanship and inventiveness, Adam Dant explores the byways of London’s cultural history in his ingenious drawings, annotated with erudite commentary and offering hours of fascination for the curious.

The book includes an extensive interview with Adam Dant by The Gentle Author.

Adam Dant’s limited edition prints are available to purchase through TAG Fine Arts