Ramsgate Fire Station

Ramsgate Fire Station

An early to mid-18th-century house converted in 1905 to serve as Ramsgate Fire Station under the direction of Borough Engineer T G Taylor.

The building is constructed of stock brick, rendered to the main elevations, with a slate roof. It is planned as a three-storey, double-range house running parallel to Effingham Street, with a rear range incorporating a hose-drying and drill tower. The two-bay ground floor is occupied mainly by the engine house and appliance bay, which fronts onto Effingham Street. Behind this on the south side is a control and watch room with a shallow single-storey projection to the north, originally built for taking in horses from the rear yard. The upper two floors contain dormitories, a mess room, kitchen and kit room for the brigade.

The principal façade has a rusticated ground floor with a cill band and a plat band inscribed with 'RAMSGATE FIRE STATION' on the second floor, topped by a modillion cornice parapet with stacks to left and right. The second floor displays three evenly-spaced sashes. The first floor has a pair of tripartite sashes flanking a central single sash, with upper leaves containing glazing bars, all with incised keyed lintels above. The ground floor is occupied by two large replacement glazed metal carriage doors with heavy cornices on double brackets; the piers to these doors have rounded edges to prevent scuffing. Between the carriage doors sits a central oval bronze dedication plaque with a keyed surround recording the opening date of 17 October 1905 and listing town dignitaries present. A fire bell button, now lost, was originally mounted here, and a wall-mounted fire lamp sits above the plaque.

The rear elevation combines later 19th-century additions with rebuilding and new fenestration from 1905. A two-storey shallow-pitched rear wing extending from the south-west corner of the 18th-century core was added by 1873, though its present form chiefly results from the 1905 scheme. The most notable element is a four-storey hose-drying and drill tower at the west end of this wing, built of stock brick with openings on its west face marked out in glazed purple bricks, all now fitted with modern metal shuttering. The projecting wing has a chamfered corner at ground-floor level containing a narrow plank door to the workshop and store, sheltered by a stepped-brick projection. The north side of the rear elevation has a projecting single-storey range of 1905 with double carriage doors accessing the appliance bay from the yard, surmounted by two broad rendered bay windows. The central sashes of these bays have been replaced with escape doors, and external metal stairs added around 1980 obscure much of this section. The side elevations are of plain yellow brick with some rebuilding and repointing to the gable ends; the southern elevation includes two narrow inserted sashes to the first floor and a door to the watch room to the west.

Internally, the appliance bay is simply divided into two carriage bays by a cast-iron column with an acanthus leaf capital supporting a riveted steel transverse beam at the centre. The appliance bay walls are lined with mottled teal tilework with brown border tiles to dado level. To the rear, set centrally, is a stone open-well staircase with decorative cast-iron splat balusters and a hardwood handrail, turned around a curtail step at the base; this is probably retained from the original Effingham House arrangement. The watch room to the south of the stairs has simple tongue-and-groove dado panelling, built-in cupboards and a pair of part-glazed panelled doors, one to the appliance bay flanked by narrow margin lights and another to the west, set within a multi-paned glazed screen separating the watch room from a distinct workshop and store accessible from the rear drill yard.

The upper floors retain several simple four-panelled doors, fragments of tongue-and-groove panelling, window and door surrounds, skirting and some plaster cornice detailing, most of which appears to belong to the 1905 conversion, though some earlier joinery may have been reused and some plasterwork may be of greater age. A notable feature in the rear dormitory room on the first floor is a blocked and partly obstructed fireplace with a fine Adamesque surround featuring swags and floral ovoid motifs to the architrave, likely an early fixture from Effingham House. The hose-drying and drill tower and the workshop and store within the rear range were not inspected internally.

A simple single-storey flat-roof kit store of around 1930 stands in the north-west corner of the rear yard and does not contribute to the special interest of the listed building.