Walthamstow School of Art

This was an art school based in Walthamstow, north-east London and was a predecessor of what is now the University of East London. In 1883, an art school was created by the Walthamstow Literary Institute. It was initially based at the Trinity School, in West Avenue, which was connected with the Science and Art Department in South Kensington now known as the Royal College of Art. In 1892, it relocated to Grosvenor House, Hoe Street, and then to Court House, Hoe Street, in 1900. The administration was taken over by the Walthamstow Higher Education Committee in 1906. It was closed in 1915. In the early 1960's Walthamstow was one of the best schools of art in the country. The Royal College of Art admitted more students from Walthamstow than from anywhere else. But a perverse outcome of the Coldstream reforms was that accreditation for the new Diploma in Art and Design (DipAD) was withheld from many well-regarded schools, including Walthamstow. The new system favoured standardisation and academic content and could not accommodate Walthamstow's quirky hands-on teaching methods with pub tutorials! Unable to compete with London art schools offering DipAD courses, Walthamstow’s glory days were sadly over.

In the 1970’s, it was merged into North East London Polytechnic and other metamorphoses' have since caused this establishment to now be part of the University of East London. Notable alumni and staff have included musician Ian Dury (the son-in-law of artist Tom Rathmell) fashionistas Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin, film director, Peter Greenaway. Also, there were Derek Boshier, Joe Tilson, Olwyn Bowey, William Bowyer, Bill Jacklin, Fred Cuming, Ken Howard and Peter Blake all of whom were to become Royal Academicians. In 2017 an exhibition entitled 'Be Magnificent' was held at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. It showed works by many of the above-mentioned artists in what was regarded as the School's heydey, 1957-1967.