The Ocean Hotel: and the Polish entrepreneur who built it

AND THE POLISH ENTREPRENEUR WHO BUILT IT

By James Rayner

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.

Born 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. 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.

The Ocean Hotel: a commanding presence on Sandown Esplanade, courtesy Isle of Wight County Record Office

Plans for the new Ocean Hotel were drawn up by the architect Lewin Sharp – the same man Henryk would ask to design the Apollo – and much of the work was undertaken by Islandborn builder James Hayden. As the scaffolding came down, after a year of construction, a truly astounding building was revealed, complete with Italianate cornicing and neoclassical columns. It contained 150 luxurious rooms, spread across five spacious floors, with its own bathing machines, pleasure boats and even a horse-drawn coach. From the Esplanade, guests would cross the sweeping lawn that overlooked the bay, before passing into the hotel’s Jacobean-panelled entrance hall. Turning left, they could take a seat in the bright and airy dining-room, decorated with green and gold tapestry panels and Chippendale furniture – said to be an exact copy of Queen Victoria’s private dining-room at Windsor. Menus included salmon in lobster sauce and quail with vine leaves, served by the hotel’s dedicated staff, who wore nautical, naval-inspired uniforms, and were overseen by the newly appointed manager, Monsieur F. Garin, formerly of The Savoy in London. The opulent bedrooms were decorated in pink, yellow and green; and a stateof-the-art lift could take visitors to the top floor where they were greeted with a panoramic rooftop garden, complete with tents and easy chairs – supposedly the perfect place to take coffee under the stars.

The grand opening in May 1899 was a huge success, with 70 London journalists coming by special train to see it. Soon the Ocean Hotel was fully booked and could count Princess Beatrice, Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, and the Hungarian Count Lónyay amongst its guests and diners. However, in 1905, Henryk decided to sell The Ocean Hotel to Alphonse Gérard of the Cafe Royal in London, and later moved to Paris where he’d spend the rest of his life – leaving behind this iconic new building as his legacy to Sandown.

Today, a blue plaque adorns Kops Brewery to mark its importance and its connection to Loewenfeld, whilst the Apollo Theatre continues to attract thousands of people each year. Sadly though, the Ocean Hotel’s future still hangs in the balance, making it all the more important to tell the story of this remarkable building before it is potentially lost forever.

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A WORLD OF TASTES ON AN ISLE OF WIGHT PLATE

From Polish pastries to Spanish sides, tantalising tandooris to the perfect pad thai, there’s certainly more to Isle of Wight food than you might think at first glance

Over a hundred years since Queen Victoria’s Indian cooks first polished their pans and lit their stoves on Island soil, international influences are still an integral part of our local food scene. Now a new generation of chefs and restaurateurs are bringing the best of world cuisine to our doorstep, introducing inventive reimaginings and preserving historic family recipes to transport us to other cultures – and the results are simply superb. So follow us as we pull up a chair and unfurl our napkins at a few of our favourite venues.