A fact from Cleveland Hall, London appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 September 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Cleveland Hall was the base for anarchists and international revolutionaries in London?
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I did some browsing about this place when reviewing Harriet Law and so it's interesting to find that the prodigious user:aymatth2 has made a substantial page about this too - bravo! I was thinking of taking a photograph of the place to illustrate the Law article as she spoke there but it isn't clear what has happened to the place. I plan to take a look at the area soon to see if any traces remain.
The street address is in Cleveland Street but some sources refer to it as being in Fitzroy Square. My impression is that, being a large hall, it may have had entrances at either end, like the similar Conway Hall, which is where this all got started at a recent editathon.
I think the "Fitzroy Square" references were to make the address more respectable. Cleveland Street was very scruffy. Or perhaps more likely "Fitzroy Square" was used as the name of the neighborhood. The map shows the address two short blocks away from the square near the corner of Cleveland and Howland streets. I am sure of the address, which is given by several sources, including the bankruptcy notice that also mentions Howland street, suggesting it was on the corner. On Google satellite view the address is a building set back from the street, joined to a substantial building or row of houses that runs along Howland street, but if you zoom in to street view it is a construction site. My guess is that the hall was torn down in 1916 or soon after to make way for row housing, and that in turn has recently been torn down. I wish there was a picture of the building, but I can't find one. Aymatth2 (talk) 13:02, 29 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I had a look round and took some pictures. I've added one which shows some features of the area. In researching these, I find that we already have an article about Cleveland Street, London which has more to say about the street's rich history. I'm thinking that the Post Office Tower complex occupies the site of the hall now but I'm not certain. We may have trouble with sources there as the tower was an Official Secret and so not shown on maps until recently — rather like the Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station farce. See also Cleveland Street Workhouse which is quite detailed. That's the complex with street number 44 on the other side of Howland Street which is now being being redeveloped. Andrew Davidson (talk) 07:37, 1 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
