Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Former site of a Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1952 to 1953

Summary from record TR 13 NW 60:

Motel and public house. Early to Mid 19th century. Rendered with slate roof. Two storeys, on rendered plinth. Rendered rusticated quoins. Moulded cornice. Plain parapet, stepped up across centre. Rendered gable end stack to left and rear stack to right. Regular five-window front of recessed 12-pane sashes. Central 20th century canted bay to ground floor replacing door. Single storey section in similar materials to each gable end, set back, from front; right section with rusticated quoins, plain parapet and 12-pane sash. Half-glazed door in half-glazed porch to front of right gable end. Two short rear wings. Interior not inspected.

Monument Types

• PUBLIC HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1800 AD? to 2050 AD)
• SITE (Modern - 1952 AD to 1953 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
STANFORD
TR13NW NEWINGREEN
1605/3/10007 (North side)
03-MAR-00 Royal Oak Motel
GV II
Motel. 1952-3 to the designs of Louis Erdi, for Graham Lyon of Dover. Timber and steel frame, wavy-edge elm weatherboarding with some stone facing to either end and painted panels; felt roofs, monopitched and rising to a prow at either end. A long, zig-zag block on plan, single storey with mezzanines at either end offering family accommodation. The block was originally planned to a 4'2" module, with alternating double chalets and garages, with single rooms in the corners and the family rooms at either end, making ten garages and twelve sets of rooms in all. In 1975, however, the garages were adapted into one-person units. The main frontage has timber doors set behind an oversailing canopy supported on posts, which runs the length of the building. Timber windows. The interiors not inspected, though the double-height ones are known to have internal timber staircases, and all save the smallest units have en-suite bathrooms. The Royal Oak Public House, already listed and to which Erdi's block is attached via a covered way, was adapted by Erdi to provide restaurant facilities for the motel rooms.
Louis Erdi was responsible for a series of motels round England, aimed at foreign visitors; this was the first, and it was the only the second motel to be built in Great Britain. It was primarily designed for foreign tourists motoring in Britain. Erdi was also the first post-war specialist designer of hotels, and he went on to design a series of motels for Mr Lyon, most of them attached to existing public houses and mainly close to ports. He should be credited as the major specialist in the field.
Sources
Architects' Journal, 9 July 1953, pp.46-7
Architect and Building News, 11 June 1953, p.690
Parthenon, May-June 1954, pp.54-6
Bouw, no.20, 20 May 1961, p.628
Listing NGR: TR1270736207

Description from record TR 13 NW 60:
Motel and public house. Early to Mid 19thC. Rendered with slate roof. Two storeys, on rendered plinth. Rendered rusticated quoins. Moulded cornice. PLain parapet, stepped up across centre. Rendered gable end stack to left and rear stack to right. Regular five-window front of recessed 12-pane sashes. Central c20 canted bay to ground floor replacing door. Single storey section in similar materials to each gable end, set back, from front; right section with rusticated quoins, plain parapet and 12-pane sash. HAlf-glazed door in half-glazed porch to front of right gable end. Two short rear wings. Interior not inspected. (1)

English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<1> Chris Blandford Associates, 1992, A259 Dymchurch to M20 (Junction 11) Stage 1 Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6769.

Sources and further reading