Bohemia House and Summerfields

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Click here to link to Summer Fields School, Oxford

In the early 1970's Hastings Borough Council  indulged in an orgy of the most incredible municipal vandalism, destroying important parts of the town's heritage simply because they could. These philistines, and we must blame ourselves for electing them, were so culturally bankrupt that they could only destroy whilst bleating that they were saving the ratepayers money. These pages are dedicated to the memory of Bohemia House, later called Summerfields, not because it was a world-class building but because it was infinitely better than that which replaced it and in the hope that those parts of the estate that have survived will not suffer the same fate and a plea to our elected members not to repeat the mistakes of earlier councils. If you have any sorrow left, shed a tear too for the Castle Hotel, destroyed to make way for a ghastly supermarket that was redundant only a few years later and Hastings' Albert Memorial, a fine folly of a clock tower that, had it been allowed to survive, would have provided a superb focal point for our town centre now that it's pedestrianised. 

Summerfields in Summer

Summerfields in Winter

The magnificent Imperial Staircase, supposed to have been saved, but where is it now?

The indoor playground and Gym, all gone

Incredibly this lodge survived until 1999 when it was demolished.

This was the view from the terrace in front of Bohemia House, the view would now be blocked by the Law Courts.

pictures courtesy of Bob Hart
all colour pictures (c) Ion Castro 2000

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