Frank Herriot Risdon and a Modernist find in Kent

Fort Grenham, Minnis Bay, Kent

Earlier this year I spent a few days exploring the delights of Kent including Margate, Ramsgate and Birchington-on-Sea. Birchington is home to the wonderful Twentieth Century art deco house, built in 1935 and now a superb bed and breakfast hotel. There are a few other deco buildings not far from Twentieth Century including Fort Grenham, built in 1936 and designed by architect Frank Herriot Risdon. The house was built for one Harry Vivien Ward and the Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Thanet for 1939 confirms him living there. Ward was a local notable and served as a Councillor then Alderman on the former Margate Corporation as well as being Mayor in 1953/54. No doubt Fort Grenham saw many important guests during this period.

This impressive, four bedroom house appears to have retained its original crittal windows and has a roof terrace which must command excellent views as the building faces the sea. However, at least externally, it is in poor shape and in need of some loving care. This seems to be a long standing issue as Thanet Council's minutes from April 2013 note that a Section 215 notice had been served on the property. According to UK legislation, a local planning authority can serve such a notice where the condition of land or buildings adversely affects the amenity of the area, requiring the owner to deal with the poor state of a building. 

Risdon was not an architect I had come across before but a little research revealed him to be both accomplished and a bit of a character. Born in Brixton, South London in 1913, he was named after his father who had fought in the Boer War and the First World War. Perhaps inspired by having received drawing lessons from a cousin, he went on to study at the former North London Polytechnic in Holloway, where he later taught. He chartered in 1936 and had the great fortune to find work with Frederick Gibberd who designed Pullman Court, an iconic modernist group of apartment buildings in Streatham. Indeed, Risdon drew the plans for Pullman Court, a project that perhaps inspired one or two of his later works, despite his initially being more enamoured of the classicist Italianate style. His commitment to modernism is further evidenced by him having built a house for himself in this style. Like Fort Grenham it was built in 1935 and was located in Beckenham, then in Kent, now amalgamated into Bromley in South London. I have been unable to locate this house, or even to confirm that it still stands, so if anyone reading this has details please share them in the comments below!

Pullman Court, Streatham, London

The Second World War began just three years after Fort Grenham was built and Risdon saw active service in the Navy in Norway and Greece and was also involved in the action at Salerno, Italy in 1943. After the War he formed a partnership with Alec Shingler and together they designed Hertford's Castle Hall and Dunstable' Civic Centre as well as shopping centres in Glasgow (Drumchapel) and Jarrow, the Herbarium at Kew, and the University of the South Bank premises at Wandsworth. Other projects included the London Nautical School and Audley Square Garage in Mayfair, Central London.

Risdon had a long working life, combining managing his architectural practice with a senior role at North London Polytechnic. He appears to have been popular with his students, several of whom went on to work for him, but at least one of them was not completely comfortable with his approach. In his autobiography, architect Thomas Saunders claims that Risdon "coerced many of his fourth and fifth year students to produce drawings and details for his private work for the odd five or ten pounds". As with many things there are two ways of looking at this. Saunders clearly considered it to be taking advantage but others may have seen it as a chance to get experience of working on a live project and this seems to have resulted in a least some of them gaining paid employment at a later date. Saunders goes on to say that "everyone had to be a cardboard replica of himself. One was either a dedicated disciple or discarded". Despite this, he admits he admired Risdon's work, which is perhaps more important than views on his personality. 

Frank Herriot Risdon died in December 2005. He had worked as an architect for sixty years, not retiring until 1996, at the age of 83. In addition to this architectural work, teaching and naval careers, he continued to paint throughout his life and to take an interest in local planning issues. It is a shame that Fort Grenham, one of the first buildings he was fully responsible for has not been better preserved.

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Twentieth Century - Art Deco in Birchington-on-sea

Birchington-on-sea is a large village in Kent not far from the larger seaside towns of Margate, Ramsgate and Whitstable and the historical city of Canterbury. It is a short walk from the stunning scenery of Minnis Bay and home to one of Britain's most elegant Art Deco homes. 

In 1935, local builder Chas Hawkes designed and oversaw the construction of an Art Deco building in Birchington. It was to be a home for him and his wife Kathleen and would also have an office for her Minnis Bay Estate Agency. When completed it would have been the epitome of modernism with its striking white exterior, crittall windows, delightful curves and subtle decorative references to the Art Deco "rule of three". Perhaps to emphasise its modernity the couple named their new home Twentieth Century.

The Hawkes lived there for several years until for reasons unknown, they moved to another home just a short step away. They were not the only notable people to have lived in the house. In 1962 Tudor Gates, author, playwright, screenwriter and Trade Unionist acquired the property and lived there until 1986. During that time he wrote a number of TV scripts and screenplays including Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust For A Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971) - all of them for Hammer, the famed horror film company. He also contributed to the script of Barbarella (1968) and to the TV series The Avengers, The Sweeney and The Saint. Gates changed the building's name to The White House, a name it retained until just a few years ago.

As well as changes of name and ownership, the house was subject to a number of  physical alterations over the years. Kathleen Hawkes' estate agency office originally occupied what is today the breakfast room and had a door leading directly to the garden, enabling the main entry to be retained for private use only. This door disappeared at some point as did the original crittall glazing and the elegant Minnis Bay Estate Agency lettering on the office facade. The original design included stunning squared-off, wrap around windows at the front of the building and sadly these were also removed at some point. Not only this, the lintels installed to support the wall above the windows were removed making it difficult and expensive to reverse this at a later date. The house came on the market in 2011 and Wowhaus, the website devoted to Art Deco and modernist architecture wrote scathingly about the changes describing them as "how no to do it" rather than "wow". At about this time, the house became a bed and breakfast hotel.

Today the wow is well and truly back thanks to current owners Kat Webb and Spencer Stedman who purchased the property in November 2017 after having stayed there as a treat for Spencer's birthday. Both of them have been serious Art Deco collectors for several years and Kat even has an Art Deco dolls house given to her in her childhood! On taking possession they not only restored the original name to the house but undertook significant restoration work to bring it back to its original splendour. This labour of love resulted in them receiving the 2019 Raven Award from the Birchington Heritage Trust.

Today the Twentieth Century Bed and Breakfast is a wonderful place to stay, not only for Art Deco enthusiasts but for anyone wishing to explore this part of Kent with its beaches and other natural and historical attractions.  It has four themed rooms including the Baron and Lady Carson Art Deco suite which is named after the owners of the land on which the house sits. The Tudor Gates room has a collection of posters and other items related to Gates' career and the Amy Johnson room is filled with memorabilia commemorating the famous aviator. The David Bowie room is a tribute to the musical superstar who performed in nearby Margate and who is known to have visited the area as a child. The idea behind the themed rooms is that they reflect different periods with the twentieth century and commemorate people with links to the house and the area. 

Kat and Spencer have displayed items from their Art Deco collections in the common areas of the house and during my recent stay they kindly showed me their wonderful collection of photographs. These include images of the original exterior and of Chas and Kathleen Hawkes and the labourers who worked on the building. They are extremely knowledgable about Art Deco and were very happy to show me Hawkes' original architectural drawings and to share stories about the building's history. They are also wonderful hosts who serve a great breakfast which includes herbs, tomatoes and other fruit grown in their garden. Why would you want to stay anywhere else?

You can find more details about Twentieth Century on their website.

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