The White Hall

The White Hall is a building located in Southend-on-Sea, originally constructed as a tennis club house in 1934. It was designed by D N Martin Kaye, the Head of Southend School of Architecture, in the International Modern style. This building was intended to be the centerpiece of a modernist development planned by the Thurston family, although only two houses in Clatterfield Gardens were ultimately built.

The structure is made of rendered brick and features a flat felt roof with steel framed windows. It has a U-shaped plan, with two storeys on the north side and a single storey on the remainder. The main elevation, facing east, includes a hall with three pairs of French doors, each flanked by full-length fixed lights, all featuring horizontal glazing bars. To the right, there is a projecting two-storey block with high-level ribbon windows at the first floor corners and a similar window on the ground floor to the left. To the left, a low single-storey range projects, featuring a corner window and one three-light and one single-light window. There is an almost continuous drip band above the window heads.

On the rear elevation, the hall has a range of three ribbon windows above the drip band, with double doors and a corner window to the right, and a four-light window and door to the left, along with a two-light square window at the first floor. Inside, the hall features a coved cornice and retains a wooden bar in an alcove. A foundation stone inscribed "Laid by Diana and Dick Thurston 21 Nov 1931" marks its historical significance.