Homes of the Homeless: Seeking Shelter in Victorian London

We tend to imagine the Victorian home as a family affair, a place of stability and a retreat from the outside world. And that was the ideal for the Victorians themselves. But for huge numbers of Londoners the reality was very different. Tens of thousands made their homes in lodgings and lodging houses, renting a room - or often just a bed - by the week or the night in a building shared with strangers. And there were countless others who could not even scrape together the few pennies for this and who turned to the workhouse or refuges or who slept rough in whatever shelter they could find. This special exhibition tells the story of these ‘other’ London homes in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the places and spaces the poor inhabited, bringing them to life through paintings, photographs and objects, and, importantly, through the diaries and oral histories of the men, women and children who sought shelter in the capital.

Suitable for
Family friendly

Admission
£5/£3 concessions

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk//se000022?id=EVENT504657