ABSTRACT
Although Besant’s scheme for a ‘palace’ was not elaborated upon until his novel of 1882, or taken on board seriously by public subscription until 1886, it dates in fact to a pre-crisis period, a time when a vision of cultural transformation as a palliative might be offered up as a solution to the social question. Though sparking the imagination of its readers in the alarmist mood of the mid1880s, it would necessarily compete with a host of other proposals to solve the question of real distress in East London.
