As Margate celebrates the opening of Turner Contemporary, a new public artwork for the town aims to highlight JMW Turner’s association with a less-celebrated local landmark – the Fort Road Hotel.
Iconic Site is a red neon text that will grace the front of the Fort Road Hotel, a former public house dating back to Turner’s time, and close by his Margate lodgings – one of the inspirations for the building of the gallery. As Turner was a noted drinker, it seems inconceivable that he did not visit the establishment.
The artwork by creative team Sans façon has been commissioned for the site as part of a larger project that aims to breathe new life into Margate’s historic buildings: Margate Arts Creativity Heritage (MACH). The piece will create an additional cultural attraction in Margate outside the gallery, both when Turner Contemporary opens and for up to 6 months afterwards.
MACH Project Manager, Sophie Jeffrey, said: “Margate’s historic buildings are a big part of its unique charm and the stories associated with them help us understand why the town was so successful in the past and provide clues as to how it will become successful again.”
The Fort Road Hotel is now a derelict building and has long been perceived as blot on the landscape - but it is hoped that Iconic Site can help turn perceptions of the building around.
Tristan Surtees of Sans façon said: “Iconic Site invites one to look and think differently about a place, hoping to create an opportunity rather than an inanimate object. It’s obvious that there’s enormous opportunity here in Margate and it’s exciting for us to be part of that.”
After intervening to compulsory purchase the site in December 2010, Thanet District Council is now seeking a commercial development partner who will proceed with its ambition to convert the building into a boutique hotel, which while being a twenty-first century facility will also preserve the building’s complex and engaging historical associations.
Interested parties should call Sophie Jeffrey on 01843 609342.
If you are interested in the opportunity to acquire The Fort Road Hotel, you can see the advert on the Thanet District Council website
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Margate Arts Creativity Heritage is a 3 year project jointly sponsored by English Heritage, Arts Council England and Thanet District Council.
Iconic Site was originally commissioned by CUBE (Centre for the Urban Built Environment) in Manchester and has since toured to Liverpool and Newcastle.
