Havens department store, Westcliff-on-Sea

Summary

Department store of c.1935. The single-storey, late-C19 storeroom to the rear, the interior of the third (top) floor, and ground-floor fittings of the 1980s and 1990s are excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

Havens department store, built c.1935, on Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff-on-Sea, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the classically ornamented Art Deco façade with its Burmantofts faience cladding, is an impressive and substantially complete example of a commercial frontage of its time. The 1970s display windows and back-lit signage and canopy have considerable rarity value and also contribute to the interest of the façade;

* Level of survival: both externally and internally Havens retains distinctive elements of its mid-1930s design, not least its many original shopfloor furnishings, the pair of grand staircases, its two decorative rooflights and the high-quality external tiling, faience-cladding and distinctive steel-framed display windows to the upper levels;

* Historic interest: as a fine example of an inter-war department store built in an outer-urban location drawing upon the major metropolitan designs of the period; this demonstrating the growing popularity of the department store in smaller towns across the country during a period of great change to the nation’s shopping habits.

History

Havens has continuously traded on Hamlet Court Road, the principal commercial street in Westcliff-on-Sea, since 1901. It was first established by Rawdon Havens as a small store specialising in the sale of china, glassware and general housewares. Originally it was set up on the west side of the road, though by 1920 the business had outgrown the initial premises and the freehold of a shop across the street (occupying the site of the present Havens’ store) was purchased. Over the first half of the C19 the area had a growing permanent population, one which dramatically increased from 18,238 in 1901 to 126,105 in 1941 according to Census records for Southend-on-Sea. In addition to this, the town’s popularity as an excursion destination for Londoners saw growing numbers of summertime visitors over this period. Taking advantage of the commercial opportunities presented by this, the business expanded further in the 1930s, with Rawdon’s son Edward commissioning an extension and substantial rebuilding of the existing C19 shop to include two additional floors and a fashionable faience-clad façade.

The rebuilding of Havens is thought to have been undertaken in c.1935, the outlying plan of the new store shown in the Ordnance Survey map of 1939. This redevelopment sought to expand the existing premises to take advantage of the commercial opportunities, but also provide modern shopping facilities, of the type pioneered by landmark London stores. It followed the lead of influential department stores such as Whiteleys on Queensway, 1908-12 by Belcher and Joass (listed Grade II; NHLE 1227450) and Selfridges on Oxford Street, completed 1928 to the designs of Francis Swales, Frank Atkinson, Daniel Burnham and J J Burnet (listed Grade II; NHLE 1357436); both of which utilised structural steel-frames to provide large, unimpeded shop floors along with classicised commercial façades punctuated by floor-to-ceiling display windows. The rebuilt Havens store was partially extended to the rear by 1950 to incorporate a late C19 storehouse (from the evidence of the OS map of that date) and the façade was modified in the 1970s, a phase of work which introduced a new ground-floor shop front and canopy. In addition to this, some internal refurbishments and alterations have been undertaken in more recent years, most notably the ceiling over of the first-floor gallery and the extension of the ground-level shop floor, both probably undertaken in the 1980s or 1990s.

Details

Three-storey department store of c.1935.

MATERIALS: structural steel-frame with gault brick rear and side elevations and Burmantofts faience-clad façade.

PLAN: rectangular plan-form set perpendicular to the street, adjoining No 136 to the south and detached with a narrow alleyway to the north.

EXTERIOR: the three-storey Hamlet Court Road façade is symmetrically divided into three bays punctuated by giant order pilasters that rise through the upper two storeys. At street level there is a three-part, canted bay window arrangement divided by two sets of glass double doors. The frontage is dominated by applied Burmantofts white faience. This features several Beaux Arts style motifs including festoons in the upper portions of each of the pilasters and, on the parapet, a run of decorative crosses and a pair of circular floral motifs which flank the store’s name ‘HAVENS’, this being centrally marked out in modish sans serif lettering. Crittall windows feature throughout, running floor to ceiling on both the first- and second-floors, and divided by metal panels decorated with Art Deco lobed-rectangle motifs. At street level the shop front has seen some 1970s modifications, including new display windows, back-lit opal glass signage and a projecting canopy. Beneath this, the original 1930s canted bay arrangement along with the terrazzo flooring and the glazed, mottled-tile stall risers are retained.

The rear portion of the building is of utilitarian design, the side elevation to the north forming a plain brick range. Moving back from the street, the building steps down from three storeys (the main street-facing portion of the store) to two storeys, where the flat roof accommodates two original decorative skylights, and finally down to a single-storey projection. This single-storey part of the building retains the pitched roof of the late-C19 external storehouse*, this having been integrated into the present building as part of an extension of the premises shown to have been completed on the OS map of 1950.

INTERIOR: all three storeys of the front portion of the building originally served as open-plan shop floors with separate storerooms. The ground and first floor remain as such, though the third (top) floor level* has since been converted for use as an open office and storage area with no notable original features retained. The separate levels of the store are connected by a concertina-shuttered 1930s lift with and wrought-iron grilles and inlaid oak screens above the lift doors, this set centrally on the north side of the store. On the opposing side of the store are two original sets of broad, canted stairs, these retaining original oak balustrades, newel post finials, classical niches and, on the set connecting the first- and second-floors, a fielded panelled underside.

The ground-floor level of the store retains a range of original fittings, including parquet, wooden-block flooring throughout, a set of oak curved and banded island shelving units and central rectangular fitted tables with curved corners. At ceiling level, positioned in line with the stairs, is a continuous, curved soffit light fitting which provides indirect uplighting. Most other fittings in this portion of the store, including the veneer panelling, display units and the central counter, are the product of a refurbishment of the 1980s or 1990s and the fittings of this period* are not of special interest. Contemporary with the introduction of these fittings was the extension to the rear portion of the store, which internally integrated the late-C19 storehouse into the main shop floor (this part of the building initially having been connected with the main building following an earlier extension completed by 1950).

At first-floor level several Art Deco style display tables are retained, the octagonal tables are apparently permanent fixtures (the smaller square tables are moveable and therefore not included in the listing). A notable element of this level is the octagonal, stained-glass rooflight. This would originally have lit an open gallery at this level, which overlooked the ground-level shop floor. The open gallery has now been blocked with matching parquet flooring and the original balusters which would have featured here have been removed. In the centre of the east wall is a colourful stained-glass lunette window, this is a later replacement as it is not shown on early photographs, probably introduced in the 1970s, possibly at the same time as the reworking of the façade.

To both the north and south sides of the first-floor are storerooms, retaining simple slatted timber shelving and sections of glass block flooring. Set to the east of the southern store room, now separately accessed by an inserted set of stairs from the south-eastern side of the ground floor, is a staff kitchen which retains plain 1930s tiling, dado-level matchboard panelling, fitted cupboards and a further stained-glass rooflight. The third-floor level* is now used as an office and storage area and no original features appear to be retained here, this floor’s interior is not included in the listing.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the planning (listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (the Act) it is declared that the single-storey, late-C19 external storehouse, integrated into the departmental store as part of an extension of the premises by 1950, and the interior of the third (top) floor are not of special architectural or historic interest. Nor are the ground-floor fittings of the 1980s and 1990s. The 1930s stair and lift at third (top) floor level are included.

Sources

Books and journals
Morrison, K, English Shops and Shopping An Architectural History, (2003)

Websites
A Vision of Britain Through Time: Southend-on-Sea, accessed 13 June 2016 from http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10056718/cube/TOT_POP

End of official list entry

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