The Granville Marina

The Granville Marina is a street in Ramsgate, Kent. It was originally a parade of small shops, tea rooms and houses built in 1877 in the Old English style. The site is reached by Marina Road from Victoria Parade. The Marina formed part of the Granville Hotel, Ramsgate complex planned by Edmund Francis Davis. The buildings also included a large hall on the western end Marina Hall - since demolished. The buildings are partly built into the chalk cliffs below the former hotel. The Marina was opened by the Mayor of London (Sir Thomas White) on Thursday 5 July 1877. The architect was J T Wimperis and the contractor was Messrs Paramor and Son, of Margate. In the early 1970s the shops were converted into private flats. Numbers 1-4 were Grade II listed on 21 December 2004. Number 1 Granville Marina, formerly a photographic studio (Frederick T Palmer), was demolished in February 2008. The Graphic wrote of the Marina in 1877: This magnificent promenade and carriage drive has been constructed for the purpose of affording a more direct means of communication between the Upper East Cliff and the railway station on the sands below. The idea originated with the proprietor, Mr Edmund F Davis, who, with the assistance of Mr J T Wimperis, the architect, has succeeded in giving Ramsgate a novel and most delightful attraction. The main object was, of course, the zig-zag roadway cut out of the cliff, but with this was incorporated a scheme for its embellishment which has been most successfully carried out. The erewhile dreary-looking cliff has been transformed into a charming garden, and along the perpendicular rock excavations have been made an fitted up in quaint Old English style of architecture with shops, restaurants etc, and there are a number of clever-contrived subways and flights of steps, which serve as short cuts from one part of the cliff to another. At the “elbow” of the winding roadway stands the “Establishment,” which is to be devoted to musical and other attractive…