Margate in the 1950s

[EAS]

The 'problem' with concrete is that it does really, after all this time, require cleaning. And recladding will ruin it. It's a fad and not a good one. The point of brutalism is that it's brut, ie raw.

Fenestration is imortant too. It will need great care if it isn't to alter the character of the building. Not sure tinting is the way to go.

It's there, it ain't going away anytime soon, learn to love it. It's actually a good building of its type, just it's on its own.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

That's an interesting point in itself, I wonder how much longer it is destined to be there? I imagine it must be nearer the end of its life than the beginning, and I understand that you can't get a mortgage on a flat there which presumably means banks do not expect it to last another 25 years.

If it could be cleaned then this would be far preferable to cladding although concrete is porous and I doubt the staining is superficial. It would look better if painted, as Staner Court did.

As for window tinting... one long-serving SDC member once suggested a Stasi-type dawn raid to confiscate the curtains and I would agree, it looks like the world's biggest squat. Personally I think tinting would enhance the appearance.

As I've said before, I would quite like to live in Arlington House, simply because it is the only building in Margate from which you cannot see Arlington House.

[Nick Evans]

I have a copy of a supplement from the lamented East Kent Times newspaper of 1963 which talks all about the building and completion of Arlington House. Construction was delayed for some time because of the particularly harsh winter at the beginning of 63 while the workers' canteen had to move up a few floors every few weeks as construction progressed.

Not surprisingly, it was never meant to be the way it turned out. Most of the flats were available for rent and there was even a show flat - with furniture supplied by Munro Cobb of Northdown Road, Cliftonville.

Its building was one of my earliest memories as a small child. Being about three or four years old, every time we travelled into Margate from Birchington, I would look out for the big yellow tower crane growing up the centre of the block as it gained height.

What is interesting in the supplement is there are photos of all Sunley's senior management - Sunley being the building contractors - who look a real bunch of crooks! Perhaps they were - either that or they were all close mates of the Great Train Robbers? Looking at these guys you can't help wonder if brown envelopes were changing hands at some stage during the planning process.

I agree, the building is simply horrible and either needs demolition or extensive refurb. As there are still lots of people living there who would need to be rehoused, it's unlikely to come down soon. Besides, doesn't a certain fairground operator (retired these days, perhaps) own several of the flats still? Perhaps we can be enlightened.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Looking at these guys you can't help wonder if brown envelopes were changing hands at some stage during the planning process.

How so unlike business practice in Thanet these days.

[Muzza]

I understand that you can't get a mortgage on a flat there which presumably means banks do not expect it to last another 25 years.

I think this might just be standard practice for high rises. When I tried to buy a flat in a similar block a few years ago I was told most banks in Britain are reluctant to lend on properties of 'non-standard construction' (ie concrete) and more than ten storeys high.

[EAS]

And thanks to the Twitterati, this:

http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/concrete,margate

[Raymond Dolling]

When Arlington House was built in the early 60's, it was welcomed by Margate Borough Council as it made the seafront look 'modern' - don't forget high rise blocks were being built all over Britain at that time and places that didn't have them were envious of those that did. Publicity photos of Margate at the time were carefully angled to show the block. Had another half-dozen similar blocks then been built Margate would have looked like Brighton or Bournemouth (or even Benidorm) where there were similar developments. As it is, Arlington House now simply looks out of place because of its scale compared to the other seafront buildings. The fact that the whole building, including the square at its base and the car park, looks so scruffy has as much to do with the decline of Margate as a whole as anything else.

The developer was Bernard Sunley who was a national figure at the time (died 1964) and although I cannot remember the details, I think was involved in some sort of scandal similar to the T.Dan Smith/John Poulson affair in the North East at the time. Sunley built the nearby circular Tourist Information Centre and donated it to the town as part of the planning deal.