After passing the entrance of the gallery, which you go into a circular room that has explanation and pictures about: government buildings, trains, trams and the underground, Public Houses and music halls, the Victorian art world, the school board and education for all, and popular religion. Starting by a picture of queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, 1887 and in front of the painting there will be a phone that has the explanation of the government buildings & Royal Jubilees: which will state that the late Victorian London was the capital of a worldwide empire, it was between Westminster and Whitehall. The first buildings that were built are the foreign office and the India office in 1868, which fronted St James’s Park south of Downing Street. The buildings were designed to provide as much as internal air and light as possible. At the right will be a wagon from an old tram, inside of it will written explanation and a map of the first underground, London had more railway stations than any other city in the world in the 19th century. The Underground was built in 1850s because the road congestion that London had at that time, and it was the first underground in the world. Trams were made out of iron wheels that ran along grooved iron track. After you get out of the wagon there is a big picture of Albert Chevalier, which is considered the music hall superstar. Victorian London was a city of entertainment and pleasure, it was full of public houses, music halls and pubs were people can listen to music or if someone has a talent, he will have the chance to present in front of the people. Next to this exhibit there is the Victorian art world, which will be a dark room that has art and explanation of each. The most famous artists were Val Prinsep and Frederic Leighton. The school board and education for all which was made in 1870, which provided education for public elementary education for the children of the lower class, and a range of religious charitable and parish organizations ran most of the schools. At the right of it there is a small church an inside this church there is written explanation that when London’s population increased, the number of people attending the church of England services fell. Most of the Londoners turned there back in the 19th century on establishing churches.
3rd Gallery: Edwardian London
At the entrance of the gallery there will be a guide about Edwardian London, which will explain what happened at that period of life. Greater London’s population reached 7.1 million in 1911, and 4.5 of this population was in the centre of London, it was considered the most populated city. In 1904 the London County Council took over education and started to solve the huge problems of malnutrition, vermin, and disease among the children in the schools. There were a lot of public bathhouses, libraries and municipal electricity sub-stations across the whole city. The music halls were turned by Impresarios as lavish variety theaters. At that time newspaper started to spread across the city and everyone had the chance to read these newspapers and get an idea about what is happening in London. As you enter the gallery, there is a big painting of Coronation celebrations, 1902, which shows the decorations in the streets of central London, next to the painting will be a video that explains how London is the imperial capital by showing a map that shows the British Empire. AT the right of the screen there is a big advertisement (New homes in Catford, 1900) that explains how people were letting or selling their houses, a written explanation will be talking about how LCC was divided in two categories: replacements for dwellings lost to slum clearance, and general housing for workers. A virtual view of Regent Street by night in 1914, where will be speakers, that explains how the electricity helped London to be a better city. It started by the electric telegraph and after London was connected to other British cities by wire and also to European cities. The electric lighting was introduced at the end of the 19th century but it became more popular by 1920s. The first trial was in 1878 along the Victorian Embankment. London underground became electrical in 1890s and it was the first electrical underground in the world. London at world I, the war made London unstable, the aerial bombs and anti-alien made the people loose there self-confidence and everyone was scared. There was around 40,000 Germans working in London and they were living with the British people and working together but the war made them enemies. The war made new industries like making aircraft engines and there was a line of producing high explosive TNT. This will be video that will be displayed on screen and explains what happened to London before and after the War.
4th Gallery: Interwar London
At the entrance of the gallery there will be a guide about Interwar London, which will explain what happened at that period of life. After the World War I London changed and started to the age of machines and modernity. The city became more hygienic and better than before which made all the citizens pleased. London started to double up and became twice as big with its roads and railways. The population increased to 8.6 million by 1939. At that period of time Londoners were connected by an automatic telephone system. London became to be modern by providing phone booths and the underground. London became a democratic city not like other European cities by using bolshevism and Fascism. As you enter the gallery there is a small market that shows the Wembley market in 1924. A written explanation of the Empire redefinition after the market; in 1926 there was a law that any product has to be labeled if it’s made in Britain or any other foreign country, at that time the suburban areas became popular and there was a lot of house builders, building societies and railway companies to create new modern place so people can live in. New industries & corporations was new for Londoners by showing the new electrical products at that time in the gallery will give the people idea of how these products look and how it worked at that time, one of the most successful companies was General Electric Company, which was producing electric heaters to keep Londoners warm. There were a lot of the new factories that were designed to proclaim the modern virtues of cleanliness, hygiene and efficiency. Bringing an old Ford car to the gallery can show the audience how the cars look in 1930s, it was affordable and it was successful in Britain. By providing a picture of Croydon Airport, which is the first airport of London, so people will have an idea of how the airports looked in 1920s. By providing pictures of London’s docks, which will show people London’s port had grown into on of the biggest shipping and cargo facilities in the world. Leisure time became famous in th1930s and people didn’t spend most of their day at work. Sport became more commercially minded. The Wembley stadium was one of the super stadiums in the world. The sports that British use to play are: bowling, cricket, football, rugby, golf, tennis, and polo. I will provide the gallery with the London sports ground map, which was made in 1938. Most of the sports grounds were located in the west of London, which was called the healthy side of London. Also I will provide the gallery with picture of the sportswear at that time and how it changed comparing to nowadays.
5th Gallery: War & Postwar London
At the entrance of the gallery there will be a guide about War & Postwar London, which will explain what happened at that period of life. London was suffering from bombings in the World War II. After the war ended there was more than 100,000 people homeless, buildings were damaged and destroyed. The population decreased from 8.6 million to 6.7 million. There was an aftermath of the World War II in 1940s: severe winters, food shortages, and wage freezes. By providing a picture of the bombing in 10 May 1941, the audience will have an idea of what happened to London in the World War II. The everyday life in wartime was hard for all Londoners because it was danger and there was a lot of death. The state was controlling the food so all the people can live but it was kind of harsh because the amounts were tiny. There was clothing coupon, so people were buying cloth with these coupons so each will have sixty six coupons, a pair of shoes will cost 5 coupons and a suit will cost eighteen coupons, this was annually. The reconstruction plan of London was created before the war ended; Patrick Abercrombie was the one who created the plan for a new Greater London. By providing a picture of Kidbrooke School with a written explanation of the welfare state in London, the LCC was pushing to remove any inequalities in welfare provision, it made a big difference in the schools in London. Education wise London’s education service job at this time was to repair and rebuild the schools that was destroyed in the war which is a big number 1150 schools, they were trying also to recruit more teachers, and also to reorganize secondary schools, and the age of finishing secondary school was fifteen. Health care wise, NHS, which is the National Health Service that started in 5 July 1948 till now, health care is for free for everyone. The best innovation at that time was that the government nationalized all the hospitals, it was classified in two categories: voluntary hospitals, and local authority hospitals before the nationalization. It was hard for the NHS at the beginning and they suffered a lot so it can work perfectly. Beatnik London or in words spending good times, Soho was the place for having fun because it attracted the bohemians, drinkers, teenagers, and sexual adventures, it was the place to go in the post war because people have good time there and don’t think about anything. Soho is the same till this moment people go there to drink or for sexual adventures there is lots of activities to do there but now it became more for foreigners, Londoners has their own places to have fun but foreigners use this opportunity because maybe it’s hard to do these nasty things in their country so they take advantage of it, and they use as much as they can. It’s the place to go when you feel bored.
6th Gallery: 1960s & 70s London.
At the entrance of the gallery there will be a guide about 1960s & 70s London, which will explain what happened at that period of life. London became the futuristic capital of Britain, skyscrapers and flyovers made London look modern and young. In 1970 London became dark because of the economic crisis at that time, the population shrank to seven million people, and the job opportunities shrank as the population did. The people felt that London is going to die because of the recession. The Greater London Council played a good role in 1966 to reinvent from top down. In the sixties the social divisions became one, boys and girls from West and East End dated each other. There was a youth revolution to make London a better place and those who did this revolution were under the age of thirty. In 1960 London was classified as a white city but by 1980s there was a mix of faces in London. By showing the plan of Greater London development plan, and using the phones so the audience can listen to the explanation of the rise of Greater London, which was from Staines in the west to Hornchurch in the East, the government replaced more than 117 metropolitan, county and district boroughs with 52 new London boroughs, and each of them has a population of 100,000 or more, the Greater London Council (GLC) ran this. Slum Clearance & Home Ownership was one of the most important topics at that time, London needed more than 500,000 new houses for the citizens in the next year so every family has a house. In 1961 21% of the houses were local authority-owned, by 1981 the proportion had risen to 46%, and 400 more buildings had appeared around London. Between 1959 and 1974 the industry had collapsed and 38% of the jobs in London disappeared. In 1960s some gangs appeared and most of them are businessmen gangs; the most known gang was the gang of the Kray twins and the Richardson brothers. By providing a map that shows the places were the gangsters used to go will show the audience were every gang was located, it shows how each gang had it’s own area. There was also a lot of old-fashioned armed robbery for money, which seemed innocent compared to the gangsters like the Krays and Richardsons. I will provide the public with pictures that shows the strikes, protests, and demonstrations. The first strike was in 1976 by the workers of the Grunwick Photographic Film processing laboratories, which was located in Willesden because of the poor pay and the working conditions. Blacks were using the street protest because it was the only way to be noticed politically. The streets were also a place for the right-wing National Front to show their power in 1977. The first gay pride was in1971 and also the women were demanding equal pay for women and wages for housework. I will provide pictures of these strikes and protest in the gallery and under each picture there will be a written explanation of the event and when it happened.