I've put these two buildings together because they are both art galleries and, although very different from each other, they both have the most delightfully quirky architecture. They will also be in the article about Fore Street but, along with a few other buildings that deserve pages of their own, they also have more photos than will comfortably fit on the longer post.
Starting with Steam Gallery, which surprisingly isn't a listed building, it has a corner plot with the front entrance situated on the corner of the building. There's also a chimney stack on that side and I don't know if that was deliberate or if the fireplace was removed in order to accommodate the door...unless it only services the top floor.
Fore Street is choc-a-block with older cottages and late Victorian/Edwardian Arts & Crafts buildings, such as this one. Some were designed or remodelled by the architect David Carr, who lived in Beer and worked for Clinton Estates. Interestingly, although some are listed buildings with Mr Carr as the named architect, there are unlisted buildings in similar styles. Whether he was instrumental for most of the other buildings or else they were copied when remodelled by builders is something I haven't been able to ascertain. It's an interesting question though.
There are some lovely details on the windows. Interestingly, they're echoed on some other buildings too, which makes me wonder if David Carr designed the overall remodelling of many buildings on Fore Street to fit in with the Arts & Crafts theme.
The ground floor elevation mainly consists of the shop front, which also includes the attractive leaf patterns carved in the wood surround, and above is a stucco surface with a mock tudor gable. Part of the front comprises a smaller window showing a background of the stone rubble wall also with stucco on the top floor, seen below.
The two galleries came about when the owners Mike and Rosemary Lambert bought Marine House in a decrepit state and transformed it into an art gallery. Opening in 1998 it was an immediate success and four years later they also bought the property now known as Steam Gallery for their second venture.
Which lead us to Marine House. Not so many photos of this one but there are some nice details and the overall look feels as though it should be sailing away on the sea!
The boat-shaped oriel window on the front is really delightful with its long stretch of casement lights. I thought this building was a listed one but apparently not, which again I found surprising, although it may have changed its appearance during refurbishing. The windows on the top floor have the iconic Elizabethan/Tudor style drip moulds above them, which may either be original or a modern addition.
Whatever its status, it's a fabulous building. Although there are a few styles which stand out and don't look like any other on Fore Street - such as this one - they all blend together very well to make a homologous whole.
Tiled strips around the base of the frontage contain suitably marine subjects amongst the plain black and brick-red ones.
And a final photo taken a little bit further down the street.
Not as many photos of Marine House as I'd have liked but it was actually quite difficult to get close-ups, plus I don't always realise what else I might need at the time. That is one of the advantages of digital cameras of course, but I still love my film photography and it's always a nice surprise to see what I've got when my prints come in the post...or sometimes not! ;)
There are some other buildings on Fore Street that I'll be making separate posts of, especially as I do need more photos before writing the street article, so they'll be coming up soon. Onwards and upwards! :)
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