Motor Museum

Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK

Closed 2006

The Disappointed Tourist: Motor Museum, Ellen Harvey, 2023. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard.

The building opened in 1914, as a concert hall called the West Cliff Hall and Gardens and hosted everything from war time dances to an early Rolling Stones concert. It was dug out of the chalk cliff and apparently is the only cliff top hall left in the United Kingdom. From 1985 until 2006, it was the Ramsgate Motor Museum which exhibited vintage cars. The building is owned by the Thanet District Council and is on the Theatres Trust Buildings at Risk register. It has been vacant since the Museum closed in 2006. Project Motorhouse is attempting to rebuild and repair the site. The painting is based on an uncredited photograph.

 Requested by Kate B.L.