The Victoria Building Company

After the passing of the Municipal Corporations act, which abolished the restriction of building outside the town walls, buildings were continually arising in no planned way. The authorities did not seem to care, and could not see that a new face to Great Yarmouth was being created.

At this time a few gentlemen of the upper classes in London consulted with prominent figures of Great Yarmouth, with the idea of creating accommodation for the reception of a superior class of visitor to the town. They felt that facilities were inadequate to cater for this developing Bathing Place, and they decided to form a company to be known as the 'Victoria Building Company', in honour of the Queen.

Apart from its sea bathing facilities there were three reasons for choosing Great Yarmouth for their scheme:-

i) The first was accessibility. Even though the town is situated at the eastern extremity of the county of Norfolk, it is only 124 miles north east of London, and only 18 miles south east of the ancient populous and wealthy city of Norwich. It had an immediate and direct carriage communication not just with London, but with the rest of Norfolk and even the Midlands, due to the building of the New Acle Road in 1832, which cut down on journey times. Steam vessels were also constantly travelling to and from London, Hull and even Scotland.

ii) Another reason for choosing Great Yarmouth was because of it's uniqueness of its very closely built form of an irregular parallelogram, and because it was still within its walls with a population of 25,000. The quay was also an interesting feature being one mile long, and with the south part being lined with trees, formed an agreeable promenade. The church of St. Nicholas with the largest spire in the kingdom and its gothic architecture was another attractive feature, and the market too, was a good place to visit, as it was always alive with the townsfolk going about their business. Other facilities which were popular included a Public Library, theatre, assembly rooms, public baths and gardens and helped to attract new visitors to the town.

iii) The final reason for the choosing of the site in Great Yarmouth, was because of all the undeveloped land on the South Denes, which formed a beautiful peninsula bounded by the sea on one side, and the River Yare on the other. The beach was an all important aspect as it was free from shingle which permitted safe bathing at all times. This was helped by the fact that the tide runs parallel with the beach. The views of the sea from the shore with all the ships sailing through 'the roads' (shipping lanes) was the biggest attraction, and because the jetty afforded a beautiful promenade the members of the 'Victoria Building Company' decided to build on a site close to this and the Naval Hospital.

Contained in the prospectus was the plan to raise the capital of £20,000, made up of shares, each to the value of £10, with the profits of the company being derived from the letting of the buildings erected by the company, the sale of houses, ground-rents and any other incidental sources. The money raised from the selling of the shares was to be used to purchase the rest of the land from the Corporation, as the company had already obtained ground on the south Denes, between the Jetty and the Battery, with a frontage of a quarter of a mile towards the sea. The intentions were to form a spacious Esplanade close to high water tide mark; and to lay out the rest of the ground in streets and squares, so as to give each house as far as may be practicable, a view of the sea; and to call the whole “Victoria”.

The principal houses were to face south, and would be erected immediately by the company, once the capital had been raised. However, no shops or sales rooms were to be opened.

The next steps was to form a board of directors consisting only of gentlemen residing in, or within, ten miles of Great Yarmouth.

Once most of the capital had been raised, the Directors set up the 'Victoria Building Company' by a Deed of Settlement on 23rd July 1841, as Parliament had not enacted any legislation for the registration of companies. The Architect, a Mr. T Marsh, then finalised the layout of the whole scheme (see Figure 1), and by the same year the plan was put into motion.

Figure 1: The Plan for the 'Victoria Estate'

The grand scheme of the Victoria Estate, was to have an entrance arch on Wellington Road at the North of the estate, and at the corner of Brandon Mansions and the Parade. Next was Camperdown Road with mews behind the houses. The next area was going to have a crescent at the west end named Wellington and at the east end was Albert Square which had a statue next to the Parade. In front of the Naval Hospital was the centre piece of the design with a large crescent named Victoria with another statue and a hotel on the south east corner. Trafalgar place was south of Victoria Crescent and contained a church and another landscaped square. Finally was Adelaide square and Nelson Square, which ended close to the battery, with a view of Nelsons' Column in the centre of the race course.

By the first year they had formed an Esplanade 40 feet wide in front of Kimberley terrace, which was under construction. A substantial sea wall had also been built with steps leading on to the beach at the North.

The Victoria Hotel was completed and opened in 1842 after being leased to James Ball for 21 years at a rent of £100 for the first year, £200 for the second and £350 thereafter per annum. A promotional leaflet was circulated to advertise this addition to the list of accommodation for visitors, it described how;

" . . the internal arrangements has had no expense spared to render the hotel worthy of the reception of families of the highest rank. The furniture and plate will be found of a most superior description, and the wines have been selected with the greatest care. Stabling and lock up coach houses are reserved for gentlemen's horses and carriages with suitable rooms for grooms and coachmen."

On the 20th July 1842, a meeting was held in the Victoria Hotel with a Mr H Mahomed of Brighton. The idea was to form an establishment of baths consisting of Mr Mahomeds Indian Vapour and shampooing baths, hot and cold sea-water, shower and douche baths. His establishment in Brighton had been long celebrated for the numerous, and almost miraculous cures it gave.

The building was to be erected adjoining the Victoria Hotel and was estimated to cost £2,600 which was proposed to be raised again by shares. This would gain a handsome return in dividends, whilst giving a great benefit to the public. Unfortunately this was never to be built, due to the lack of support.

In 1843 a railway was proposed to arrive in Great Yarmouth, with the station positioned at Vauxhall and by 1844 it had been completed, with further proposals of a direct line with London. Many of the countries resorts feared that the advent of the railway would attract the 'lower classes' and drive away 'society' visitors. However, Great Yarmouth welcomed it, with the Victoria Building Company stating that because of the increased accessibility of Great Yarmouth, the value of their enterprise would also increase.

By 1846 the Victoria Hotel had been enlarged to cater for the number of visitors now coming to Great Yarmouth, and all the vacant building plots in Kimberley terrace had been taken. The leases had also been granted for five building sites in Camperdown Place and several in Albert Square.

To erect a dwelling on one of these sites, strict guidelines were set out so that all the properties were built to a high standard. The conditions were as follows;

i) Houses were to be erected within a stipulated period from the date of agreement.
ii) The elevation was to be in conformity with the general design as shown on the drawings by the company's Architect. If parties purchased a sufficient number of plots, then they could propose a different elevation, if it was not incongruous to the general design.
iii) The party walls had to be in 9 inch brickwork, of which the cost would be shared with the builders of the adjoining property. All external walls were to be in brick with Roman cement.