October has been a weird month for me as I've had a proper exploring drought, only managing to get to a couple of local places at the beginning of the month and then this which I guess is fairly local to me.
Anyhoo I saw @mockney reject pop this up a couple of weeks back and thought it was worth a wander as I love Art Deco architecture, it's by far my favourite period even if this particular place has been chopped up and bashed around through various industrial uses over the last decades.
@mockney reject put together a comprehensive history of the place so I'll put an abridged version here to save repetition. The Showboat (or Exclusive House to give it it's boring name) was opened in 1933 as a purpose built destination for motorists travelling to and from London. It was designed by cinema architect Eric Norman Bailey and he used similar styling techniques in the design of this building. It remained a locally famous club for around a decade and was a popular haunt for US servicemen during the first part of World War II however around 1942 it was converted into a factory building wings for Spitfire airplanes. After the war it remained in industrial use and spent it's last years under ownership of Sehlbach & Whiting, a wholesale supplier of craft products bought out by Groves (a company I deal with at work no less) in 2015. The building was vacated in 2016 and it is now under threat of demolition.
The extension built onto the front and side of the building was designed to not look too out of keeping with the original style of the building. If it was cleaned up I can just imagine how much it would gleam in the sunlight.
Turning up late morning we didn't really know what to expect as it's in a busy residential area but after a little poke around we worked it out and were in. There isn't much of anything left inside, in fact one of the best little features in here is a room in the basement covered in workers doodles from the 1970s through to the 1990s.
Thanks for looking
Anyhoo I saw @mockney reject pop this up a couple of weeks back and thought it was worth a wander as I love Art Deco architecture, it's by far my favourite period even if this particular place has been chopped up and bashed around through various industrial uses over the last decades.
@mockney reject put together a comprehensive history of the place so I'll put an abridged version here to save repetition. The Showboat (or Exclusive House to give it it's boring name) was opened in 1933 as a purpose built destination for motorists travelling to and from London. It was designed by cinema architect Eric Norman Bailey and he used similar styling techniques in the design of this building. It remained a locally famous club for around a decade and was a popular haunt for US servicemen during the first part of World War II however around 1942 it was converted into a factory building wings for Spitfire airplanes. After the war it remained in industrial use and spent it's last years under ownership of Sehlbach & Whiting, a wholesale supplier of craft products bought out by Groves (a company I deal with at work no less) in 2015. The building was vacated in 2016 and it is now under threat of demolition.
The extension built onto the front and side of the building was designed to not look too out of keeping with the original style of the building. If it was cleaned up I can just imagine how much it would gleam in the sunlight.
Turning up late morning we didn't really know what to expect as it's in a busy residential area but after a little poke around we worked it out and were in. There isn't much of anything left inside, in fact one of the best little features in here is a room in the basement covered in workers doodles from the 1970s through to the 1990s.
Thanks for looking
