Philippa ‘Phil’ McGinty from the Aldhill Mysteries series is proud of her family and home, so I’m not sure how she would feel to discover that the building that inspired her home in Aldhill-on-Sea – Roosevelt Court, looks like it may well be knocked down.
The real Roosevelt Court in Hollington, St Leonards-on-Sea, directly inspired the fictional version in Aldhill-on-Sea. It’s one of the Four Courts, four monolithic structures that loom over Stonehouse Drive and the nearby houses. Built in December 1962, Roosevelt Court and its chums, Churchill, Kennedy and Bevin, stand like monuments to post-war Britain’s concrete efficiency.
Each tower is 17 storeys tall, housing 98 flats arranged with mathematical precision: four two-bedroom apartments and two single-bedroom flats per floor, all clustered around the central lift shaft. (Source) Unfortunately, it’s this layout that might be partly responsible for the demise of the Four Courts, since modernising the structures is – according to Southern Housing, quoted in the Hastings Online Times:
Essential upgrades such as lifts that stop on all floors and are large enough to enable ambulance crews to exit residents are not feasible within the current buildings. The design and layout of flats doesn’t meet modern mobility standards, and the physical constraints of the buildings restrict the opportunities to modernise these blocks.
Phil loves living at Roosevelt Court. Her family is there – her grandmother is in a flat right next to them – and, along with the excellent community spirit, she loves the views out over the rest of Aldhill-on-Sea. I expect, like the four-hundred or so other tenants, she would love the building to be modernised, but also like them, I’m not sure she’d be keen to see her home razed to the ground without any clear idea of where she might be moved to.
