The architect Amon Henry Wilds’ background was in the development of Brighton as a boom tourist town and appointing him was part of the Town Council’s aspirations for Gravesend to achieve the same popularity and success. The Greek Revival style Wilds employed had its origins in the Grand Tour, when collectors and connoisseurs began to explore and record the architecture of Greece. The passion of these Grand Tourists for ancient Greek public monuments was distilled to become the recognised architectural shorthand for civic pride on a smaller scale, at a time when Town Halls were gaining social influence.
The first steamboats had started bringing tourists from London in 1815 and by 1840 reports estimate that 20,000 visitors a week flocked to Gravesend. It was described in the 1840 “Directory of Watering Places” as having “a most romantic appearance, and in point of view, health and pleasure, Gravesend will yield to none.” Disembarking from the Town Pier tourists crowded up the High Street past the proud new façade. This is the essential axis of the Old Town Hall, as shown here in this print from the mid nineteenth century, which distorts the true perspective to emphasise the vital relationship between the two. The prosperous period was soon in decline as by 1849 the London tourists were defecting to Margate on the train.
The second inscription on the building reads “RE-CONSTRUCTED DURING THE MAYORALTY OF CEO.H.EDMONDS. ESQ. 1882-3” The alterations were largely internal and resulted in the confectionary of plaster mouldings and gilding which is so appealing in the restored decor today. These new Victorian embellishments were in part funded by a second wave of London tourists, attracted to the Rosherville Gardens. This souvenir teacup and saucer hints at the gentile and convivial pastimes the pleasure seekers experienced.
The Gravesend of this era must have been a strangely unequal mix of affluent visitors and local social inequality, brought about by the growing pains of the industrial revolution. The uses of the building and the commercial influences on the town have undergone many significant changes since then. However, once again the Town Council seems to be looking to tourism as an industry, not only to bolster the prosperity and strengthen the identity of the town, but also to provide a layer of meaning and functionality to the building, whose civic functions have also moved on. Among the many intertwining stories encapsulated in the Old Town Hall, it makes me wonder if tourism might be a thread that links the past and future of a place that is so important for representing the aspirations of the people it serves.
I am looking forward to being a tourist at the Royal Wedding celebration parade in Gravesend this week and joining in the convivial atmosphere as the crowds pass up the High Street in front of the Old Town Hall. The bunting is up and the school children have completed their costumes. The traditional brass band will be joined by bhangra drummers and a brazilian salsa group, as a testimony to a new sense of civic pride.
Written with reference to Alan Baxter & Associates Conservation Plan document produced for Kent County Council May 2004. Teacup photo from the Discover Gravesham website.
Lucy
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