2, West Cliff Mansions

House, possibly originally a club. Circa 1884, architect not at present known. A vaguely Gothic style corner building of red brick in English bond with moulded brick cornice and stone dressings, including bands between floors and plinth. Ornamental ironwork adorns the south-eastern side. The tiled roof has a gablet to the south-west, terracotta ridge tiles, and a brick chimneystack to the north-east. The windows are late-20th century sash windows replaced within the original openings.

The building is mainly three storeys, but has an additional single-storey section to the north-west. Internally it has an unusual residential plan form with one large room to each floor, excluding the single-storey ground floor section and basement.

The south-west or entrance front is of three storeys and basement to the south, and one storey to the north. The two southernmost bays have cambered heads to the upper floor windows and a tripartite window to the ground floor. The adjoining bay to the north is an entrance bay with staircase, which has projecting upper floors with one tripartite window to each floor and pseudo-machicolations to the base. Below is a wide cambered entrance arch with an original double door with six panels to each side and a stone housed footscraper to the right. The return has stepped corbels to the second floor. The northern single-storey section has two cambered sash windows.

The south-eastern elevation overlooking the harbour has three cambered arched windows to the second floor. Below is a central two-storey and basement canted bay with pierced brick balustrading forming a balcony on the second floor. There is a tripartite window to the first floor and a seven-light window to the ground floor. This is flanked by sash windows with flat arches and first floor cast iron balconies with ornamental ironwork and renewed glazed canopies supported on cast iron supports. Attached at ground floor level are cast iron spear railings with an octagonal brick corner post with gabled stone cap with ball finial. The north-west elevation has one window to each floor lighting the staircase. The north-east side adjoins No. 3. Attached to the north-west side is a curved garden wall of brick with panels and stone plinth band and cornice.

Internally, the entrance leads into a staircase hall situated to the rear of the building with a wooden dogleg staircase with chamfered corner posts with knobbed finials, moulded handrail and balustrading with chamfered posts and midrails. The doors are original and, unusually, have nine panels, some with a decoration of arches and diamonds. The ground floor room retains an original cornice and arch, but the ceiling rose and fireplace are 20th century. The first floor room retains the original moulded cornice, crossbeams and arched alcoves, but the ceiling roses are 20th century. The second floor room also has arched openings and has an exposed roof structure of three bays comprising two arched brace trusses with chamfered collars supported on stone corbels. The basement has a 1920s Tudor style fireplace of stretcher bond brickwork with raised centre top and arched fire surround.

No. 2 is thought to date from 1884. There is a local tradition that this property was built as a private members club for businessmen from the fishing, provisions and brewing industries, and certainly the plan form, with one large room on each floor and single-storey lobby, is not a usual domestic plan. However, Cliff House, 2 West Cliff Mansions appears in Kelly's 1891 Kent Directory occupied by Mrs Haslewood, which suggests it was in domestic use by that date. There is no reference to the building in the earlier 1882 edition of Kelly's Directory. This building does not appear on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1873. On this map no buildings are shown on the site, but a number of trees which might indicate the garden of a large house demolished by that date. The building is shown on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1896 and has the same footprint in subsequent editions.