As site development into residential units commences at the Granary Club (also known as the Oasis Club) at 48 Ferry Road, secrets of its late Victorian construction have become revealed. Inside the brick walls is a framework of cast iron stanchions and joists, the skeleton, supporting the whole structure. The posts were cased in wood at some stage and the columns with their distinctive decorated capitals were not visible or described in the planning application.
Since they are clearly an important architectural feature, Rye Conservation Society has drawn Historic England’s attention to them with a request for spot-listing. The fear is that the proposed internal car-parking in the developer’s plan might cause the loss of some of the historical fabric.
However, the building is not within the Rye Conservation Area nor is it locally listed by Rother District Council as a non-heritage designated asset. It is likely therefore that Historic England will find the building too altered and lacking the high historic and architectural significance to warrant national protection.
The intervention of the Conservation Society was successful at an earlier stage in getting the original plans modified to retain the building's characterful fenestration with its harmonious arrangement of windows on the north and east elevations.
The building dates from the late 1880s, when it was a corn and hop warehouse for poultry and game foods. It was described in local architectural historian Alan Dickinson’s book Rye Through Time.
Planning permission has been granted for conversion of the former private club into nine residential units with planning use A3 on the ground floor (sale of food and drink on the premises).
