Alexandra House, Birmingham Road, Cowes

Image: © John Lucas Taken: 5 Jun 2008

The property was built in 1831 as a Wesleyan Chapel which then became redundant in around 1902. The building was subsequently rented by Sam Sanders, a marine architect who had his drawing offices upstairs with a boat building operation on the ground floor. Sam Sanders built the speed boat ‘Miss England’ which was used in 1929 by the famous motor racing driver, Henry Segrave to compete in the world motorboat championships against Gar Woods’ Miss America VII who he succeeded in beating and returned home to a Knighthood. He later gained the world water speed record in Miss England II. The building was subsequently known as Alexandra Hall and up until World War II was used by Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatics Society and at times for professional boxing. From 1940 it was used by GS Whites and Ratseys boat builders principally for lofting. In 1985 Thomas Wilks of The Rover Car Company purchased the property and converted it into a dwelling. The building is currently for sale for offers in excess of £1.8 million.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0