Heritage arts project
Between 1932 and
1935, Clays dismantled the old Christ Church in Parrock Street,
seen here, and rebuilt it piece by piece in Old Road
East.
A heritage arts project is
asking people to share their memories of Gravesham buildings over
the last 100 years.
Kent Architecture Centre has
been given £45,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to work with
award-winning Gravesend practice Clay Architecture on Making
Places, Changing People.
Project organisers are hoping to
meet past employees of the firm, people who remember the changes
that have taken place in the area and have stories to share and
anyone with photographs, documents or drawings they are willing to
donate to the project or let organisers make copies of.
Chris Lamb, of the Kent
Architecture Centre, Chatham, said: "We are delighted to receive
the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. We want to hear people’s
memories.
"Do you remember going to the
Majestic with your friends and always sitting in a particular seat?
Can you remember when Christ Church was moved, did you have a
favourite pub that’s no longer there or has changed a
lot?"
Clay Architecture will add items
from its own archives to the project and donate the results of
Making Places, Changing People to Gravesend Library.
The project will concentrate
mainly, but not exclusively, on three themes – leisure, mostly
involving pubs, work, including industrial buildings and the moving
of Christ Church in the 1930s.
A website will gradually emerge
as the project develops and the work will culminate in workshops
with schools and colleges, a DVD, a roving pop-up history
exhibition in early summer and the finished website.
Kasan Goh took over Clay
Architecture with his wife and fellow director Camilla Prizeman in
2000.
He said: "In 2011 we decided to
get in contact with ex-partners and employees of the practice. We
had a dinner and all the old guys started telling stories and
bringing us old drawings and photos.
"It gave us the idea to do a
history project. It’s about the history of the buildings but also
the human stories connected to them."
Clay Architecture has been
working in Medway and Gravesham since 1904, originally as the
George Clay Partnership when George Edward Clay opened the office
in King Street, Gravesend.
His sons later joined him and
the family business – which also had offices in Rochester from the
1950s until a few years ago – built banks, pubs, churches, houses,
schools and industrial buildings throughout the 20th
Century.
Between 1932 and 1935, Clays
dismantled the old Christ Church in Parrock Street and rebuilt it
piece by piece in Old Road East, seen below.
The company also built the
Majestic Cinema in King Street, which was destroyed by fire in
2006, and Capital County Bank in New Road, which later became
Lloyds.
To volunteer to share stories or
materials email ireneseijo@live.co.uk, call Irene on 07827 859269
or write to, or visit, Clay Architecture Ltd, Fourth Floor, 129-130
Windmill Street, Gravesend, DA12 1BL.
08/02/13
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