Purchased in 2013 with a tenant in place, this small shop forms part of a terrace of buildings built as bathing rooms at the lower end Margate High Street. Prior to the construction of Marine Drive (1880-1890), the buildings of the historic high street would have backed on to the sea and bathers would have exited the building onto a balcony at the rear and descended a wooden staircase to the beach. From there, a ‘bathing machine’ would have taken them out to the water.
Likely the replacement for a similar structure destroyed in the storms of 1808, the existing building dates from shortly after that date. The shop has since operated as the premises for at least three different bootmakers, as a self-service launderette and as an amusement arcade.
When the building became vacant, working with Studio Sam Causer, we carefully surveyed the structure and uncovered its history. Recent interior layers were judiciously removed to uncover surviving earlier finishes. Through conversation, a highly detailed approach to the retention of historic fabric was established, and a pattern of use evolved which took best advantage of the opportunities and discoveries offered up by the building.
The building was occupied in its ‘rewound’ state in a number of ways over the period of a year. Community groups, working artists, exhibitors and ‘pop-up’ traders tested, interpreted and allowed access to the space. Amongst those users, Werkhaus Margate hosted a successful pop-up and have now been in residence since late 2017 and continue to engage with the building's history and unusual unfinished aesthetic.
Overwhelmingly a process of 'taking away', the reinstatement of a large previously boarded over roof lantern stands as the only significant addition. Perhaps in the long term, a new shopfront, and safe access to the atmospheric glazed brick basement might further uncover and interpret the history and future of the building.
