Young V&A
Museum · Bethnal Green, England
Young V&A opened in 1872 as the Bethnal Green Museum, a branch of the South Kensington Museum, and reopened under its present name on 1 July 2023 after a £13 million transformation. Admission is free and it opens daily 10.00 to 17.45, with the galleries closing from 17.00. The building is Grade II*, NHLE 1357777, listed on 27 September 1973 as 'Bethnal Green Museum', and stands in the Bethnal Green Gardens conservation area. Bethnal Green Gardens, which begin immediately to the south, are a registered park and garden, Grade II, NHLE 1001673, of 1.24 hectares.
History
The museum's iron frame is the prefabricated structure built at South Kensington in 1856-57 and dismantled and re-erected here when the main V&A buildings went up. James William Wild designed the red brick Rundbogenstil exterior around that iron shell, and the mosaic panels on the facade were made from designs by F. W. Moody by female students of the South Kensington Museum's mosaic class. The museum was redefined as the Museum of Childhood in 1974 and later became the V&A Museum of Childhood before the 2023 reopening.
Visit
Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA
Featured in these guides
More in Bethnal Green
- St John on Bethnal Green · Historic site