14 & 15, CLIFF TERRACE

A four-storey plus attic mid-19th-century building at the end of Cliff Terrace, Margate, constructed in red brick. The building comprises numbers 14 and 15, forming a prominent corner block on the seafront.

The most striking feature is the fenestration. Each of the two seaward elevations is dominated by two large, three-storey oriel windows. These oriels are four-light windows with moulded timber mullions, dentil cornices in the entablatures, and segmental or triangular pediments on the upper two storeys. The lights contain original sash windows with curved glass on the outer lights. So extensive is this glazing that barely any brickwork is visible except in the last bay on the north elevation, suggesting an unusual structural approach was employed to achieve this almost blanket window coverage. The building is terminated by a bracket cornice, with an attic storey featuring dormer windows and three ranges of chimney stacks.

The ground floor contains traces of 19th-century shop fronts, including consoles and a fascia with dentil cornice, though much of this has been subject to later alteration. The original fascia and consoles suggest there were never ground floor residences.

The building was rebuilt in the mid-19th century, possibly in 1852 when records indicate the terrace was redeveloped, replacing earlier Georgian buildings that survive at numbers 10–13. This new corner building was designed to take maximum advantage of panoramic sea views. The work was completed before the early 1870s. The building was likely constructed as rooms for boarding, to meet demand generated by Margate's booming popularity as a seaside resort. Late 19th-century directories record that one shop housed W H Strand, a florist and fruiterer.

Cliff Terrace itself dates from the early 19th century, originally forming an L-shaped terrace of three-storey houses. The surviving Georgian buildings at numbers 10–13 remain much altered. Numbers 14–15 represent the redeveloped terminus of the terrace, a significant landmark reflecting both the architectural confidence of Victorian Margate and the premium placed on sea-view accommodation during the town's period of greatest prosperity.