Sir John Cass School of Art

Philanthropist Sir John Cass (1666-1718) was a wealthy City of London politician and builder, who established a charity school near St. Botolph's, Aldgate, which opened in 1710. His charity continued to fund the Sir John Cass Foundation School as well as providing for the establishment of the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, which was founded in 1899 and moved into newly built premises at 31 Jewry Street, London, in 1902. It changed its name to Sir John Cass College in 1950. In 1965 the School's Department of Fine and Applied art merged with the Department of Silversmithing and Allied Crafts from the Central School of Arts & Crafts to form the Sir John Cass School of Art. This new set up moved into its own newly built premises at Central House, opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The Sir John Cass College merged with the City of London College in 1970 to form the City of London Polytechnic. 'The Cass' as it is locally known, is situated on the fringe of the city of London in a vibrant area of art galleries and design workshops and now forms part of London Metropolitan University which was created in 2002.