STYLE | Feature
AND THE POLISH ENTREPRENEUR WHO BUILT IT
By Ja mes R ay ner
Facing the calm blue waters of Sandown Bay, behind rusting metal fences and piles of rubble, with roof timbers blackened by fire, stands the remains of one of the Island’s most elegant and important buildings: The Ocean Hotel. Interestingly, but unknown to many, Sandown owes this building to the work and creativity of a Polish-born entrepreneur named Henryk Loewenfeld.
B
orn into a financially troubled family of Jewish merchants in Chrzanów, a town 30 miles from Kraków, Henryk sensed his future lay elsewhere and moved to Britain in the 1880s. He began trading in stain removers and Swiss cuckoo clocks before establishing the first non-alcoholic beer makers in London: Kops Brewery. He also began to invest in theatres, including the Lyric and the Prince of Wales, before ultimately having the Apollo Theatre built himself in 1900.
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However, a few years before anyone would tread the boards of his new stage, something brought Henryk to Sandown where an opportunity arose to acquire a string of seaside properties including the struggling King’s Head Hotel. Whilst other buildings were demolished to make way for a brandnew structure, the King’s Head – whose former guests had included Charles Darwin and Lewis Carroll – was spared and incorporated into Loewenfeld’s grand scheme.
Henryk Lowenfeld. Credit: The Irena and Mieczysław Mazaraki Museum in Chrzanów, Public Domain.
