Marine Court

The image of Marine Court coming out of the mist like a majestic liner in the Atlantic Ocean is what its architects, Kenneth Dalgleish and Roger K Pullen, would have been very proud of, because it was designed very much with the Cunard Liner, the Queen Mary, in mind! The Queen Mary entered commercial transatlantic service in 1936 (Modernist Britain website), the same year that Marine Court was designed and building commenced; construction was completed in 1938.  Marine Court is situated at the seafront at St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings TN38 0DZ.

*Image thanks to Modernist Britain

Further to my recent blogs about The Sandcastle in Pevensey Bay (blog) and the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea (blog), regular readers were very likely wondering when I would get to the third, even more local, building that pioneered the age when Art Deco architecture coalesced with the Modern, using Art Deco design and Modernist materials, a steel frame construction and concrete and glass, indeed Postmodernity before its time! Marine Court is 14 storeys and 170 feet high, and was the tallest apartment block in the country when it was built in the 1930s. 

Recent Image

As we know from history, soon after in 1939, World War II was declared, and the building was requisitioned by the Government, servicemen and women were billeted in Marine Court, guns were emplaced on the balcony, and the basement was used as an air raid shelter, it had had insufficient time to develop as the promised 'holiday retreat' by the coast. During the war Marine Court was damaged by bombing at the eastern end (the prominent end in the images here), and restoration of the building commenced in the late 1940s. The building has since incorporated the obvious accommodation purposes, restaurants, galleries and shops, and even a nightclub, and on the 9th of November 1999 it was eventually Grade II Listed (Historic England website).

We are very lucky to have not just this wonderful local monument to Modernist Art Deco architecture, but 2 other glorious monuments nearby in Bexhill and Pevensey.

*The second image is with thanks to Modernist Britain, edited by me for this blog, both of the other images are mine, thank you very much, copyright me! 

Fishermen's Museum, Summer Opening & 60th Anniversary.

The Red Ensign outside the Fishermen's Museum is again being raised when the museum now opens at 10.00, until 17.00 hours every day; the Summer opening hours continue to the end of October (website).

In addition, it is now 60 years since the Grade II listed former Fishermen's Church of St Nicholas became the Hastings Fishermen's Museum, happy anniversary!

Always worth a visit, and to support, with plenty to see...

Sadly, bye bye to the Old Town Hall Museum!

Well, the partial eclipse was a disappointment down here with the cloud cover, and more disappointing news is that the Hastings Old Town Hall Museum is closing (as I hinted earlier this year) on the 1st April 2015, and this isn't a joke, sadly...  

I dropped in and had a chat to Rebecca, who gave me the bad news earlier today. The Old Town Hall Museum (website) provides an introduction to the history of the town, with historical and interactive exhibits, and with a number of paintings adorning the walls (some now on display at the main museum), as told in my blog about Early 19th Century Watercolourists in Hastings a couple of months ago. This has happened as a result of the cut in funding from Central Government to Hastings Borough Council, and, if you haven't been for a while, hurry up and visit, because there are some great exhibits, which will need to be found a place up at Bohemia Road, who knows when... 

The building has a wonderful history too. It was built in 1823, and offices here became the earliest police station in  Hastings, when Hastings Police Force was set up in 1836; the oldest force in Sussex, I believe! The newer town hall in Queens Road replaced the old town hall in 1881; also see my blog of 18th January about that building. Since 1949, the old town hall has been a museum, more recently being reopened in 1999 following refurbishment that was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

  

We shall have to wait and see what will develop for this Grade II listed building...