Update: Please read the following in the context of this
Islanders far and wide will be familiar with the Ventnor Winter Gardens, but how many people are aware that the building was designed as a homage to the classic De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea?
Bexhill’s fabulous art deco building, designed and built in 1935 by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, was emulated just one year later in Ventnor by Island-based architect, A.D.Clare. That’s no joke.
VB has been told this very morning that Trustees of the De La Warr Pavilion have recently made a visit to the less than pristine Ventnor Winter Gardens and have voiced their concerns on the state of Ventnor’s architectural homage.
Comments overhead during the tour include “How on earth could the IW council let this happen?” and “disgraceful treatment of what should be a local beacon of architecture.”
Financial support
Many hope that it’s true that significant grants are on the cards to rightfully return of the building to its former glory and that rumours that some have long-laid plans to sell it off to developers, to convert into residential units will simply never happen.
The Winter Gardens has a team of local volunteers doing what they can to maintain and improve the building’s current state with a meagre budget.
The desire is that it achieves its full potential and to this end, the town would welcome any input from the De La Warr trustees. Good luck!
