The Carlton Cinema, in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England dates from 1910. The extension of the railway into East Kent in 1871 led to the creation of a number of seaside resorts along the Kent coast to the west of Margate. Westgate-on-Sea was built in the 1870 by the London-based developers Corbett & McClymont. In 1910, a town hall was constructed but within 2 years, the building had been converted into a cinema. Originally named the Town Hall Cinema, it was renamed the Carlton in the 1930s. It remains a, privately owned, functioning cinema and is a Grade II listed building.
History and description
The north-east Kent coast had been a popular holiday resort for Londoners since the establishment of Margate as one of England's first seaside resorts in the early 18th century.[1] The 1860s saw the completion of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway with its terminal at Margate opening in 1863.[2] This led to the construction of a number of resorts along the Kent coast to the west of Margate, including Westgate-on-Sea. Developed by the firm of Corbett & McClymont, which had a large property development and construction business in West London, many of the buildings in the town were designed by the company architect Charles Beazley.[3]
The town hall does not have a recorded architect but was built in 1910. Within two years, it had been converted to a cinema and it remains a privately run cinema a century later.[4]John Newman, in his Kent: Northeast and EastPevsner, describes the Carlton as "an extraordinary mélange of disparate motifs".[3] A central, crenellated clock tower is flanked by two-storey, gabled wings[5] with chimneystacks of an "outsized" Tudoresque appearance.[3] Beneath the clock face is a statue of a trumpeting angel.[5] To the rear is a range of windows in a Moorish Revival style.[3] Margate's Civic society describes the overall architectural effect as "Swiss-Gothic".[6] The cinema is a Grade II listed building.[5][7]
