RESIDENTS are up in arms after plans to replace the windows of a “brutalist” 1960s high-rise block were put forward.
Leaseholder Freshwater penned the proposal which would see the sliding design of the 1960s building’s windows switch to a ’tilt-and-turn’ style on the estate in Margate, Kent.
As a result, the frames will be “slightly thicker”, satisfying complains from some Arlington House residents who say the current windows are too draughty.
However, not everyone has backed the proposal.
World-famous artist Tracey Emin, who owns a flat inside Arlington House, slammed the “inappropriate” would-be change – adding the fresh frames would ruin the building’s brutalist aesthetic.
More than 200 other objections have also been filed.
Councillors were scheduled to vote on the plans at a meeting yesterday.
“Arlington House is a historic building in Margate. At the time of its construction, Margate was booming, and it was an emblem of the future,” Emin wrote on TDC’s planning portal.
“In the last few decades, it’s been left to go to rack and ruin without care or respect for its monumental brutalist architecture.
“Freshwater understood this responsibility when taking on this building.
“They cannot get away with replacing the originals with cheap, badly styled, inappropriate windows.
“As a flat owner in Arlington House, I’m totally opposed to their proposal. In short, these are wrong for this building.”
Resident Simon Pengelly, 75, added he would try to electrocute anyone who tries to replace his windows.
“To replace them with tilt and turn would give a totally bizarre appearance from the outside, totally out of character with the design of the building,” he seethed.
“It would give it different reflections from all different angles.
“My windows will not be replaced. I will connect live mains to them if they try.
“They will not change these windows. So at least one flat will look different to the rest anyway.”
Other locals hailed the switch up, stating the current windows are an ear sore during choppy conditions.
“None of them fit properly and they’re all draughty. The wind howls through them,” resident Lyndon Brand said.
“They’re just terrible. They rattle and shake.
“There are many windows in the block that have had seagull strikes and cracked.
“In the summer, the heat distorts the frames and cracks the glass.”
They cannot get away with replacing the originals with cheap, badly styled, inappropriate windows
Tracey Emin
In planning documents, Freshwater argued the new frames will be safer than the current design.
Meanwhile, in a report ahead of the planning committee hearing, a TDC officer wrote: “Overall, the proposed works would see the upgrading of the windows within the tower block to create a more thermally efficient building, with improved acoustic performance and safe openings that meet building regulations and fire safety requirements.”
She continued: “The site is neither listed nor does it fall within the conservation area, but it does lie within close proximity of the historic environment.
“Although there is a general dislike within the community for the new design of the windows that have been chosen, evidence has been submitted confirming that like-for-like replacement sliding windows would not meet current building regulations.
“The proposed tilt and turn design will generate modestly wider frames, but otherwise, the glazing bar arrangement will appear in keeping with that of the existing windows.
“The proposed works will ultimately have a less than substantial impact upon the significance of the setting of the conservation area and listed buildings, which is considered to be, on balance, outweighed by the public benefits of the proposal.”
AN incredible one-off 1930s Mercedes that was mysteriously found under a manure pile on an Ethiopian farm is going up for auction.
The 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K ‘Caracciola’ Special Coupe is being offered for sale by Sotheby’s.
The auction has been hailed as an opportunity to acquire and freshly restore one of the most famous and desired of all Mercedes-Benzes.
Formerly owned by legendary California enthusiasts Dr. Milton Roth and ML “Bill” Post, it was last seen by the public since 1980.
Currently the vehicle is being offered without reserve and without a listing price.
It is named after Rudolf Caracciola, the first non-Italian to win the Mille Miglia.
Caracciola was the star of Mercedes-Benz’s Formula 1 team, occupying a position in the public eye akin to that of Lewis Hamilton.
At the wheel of the famed “Silver Arrows” he accumulated six German Grand Prix trophies, a record which still stands today.
He also scooped three European Driving Championships and three European Hillclimb Championships.
Driving a W125, he was clocked at 268.9 mph on the autobahn, still the fastest speed ever officially recorded on a public road.
Following this success Mercedes-Benz built him unique car creation on what was then their ultimate supercharged chassis.
The listing reads: “The design of the car was tailored specifically for Caracciola.
“Hence the somewhat taller but nonetheless well-balanced roofline and windshield, accommodating the driver’s height.
“The body sat at the end of an almost impossibly long, gorgeous hoodline.
“It and the fenders were unencumbered by awkward spare tyres.
“Instead, the spare hung at the rear, at the terminus of bold chromed accent lines that flowed to a point through the curve of the deck lid.
“It was a car that emphasised its power. It looked, in fact, like a racing car with a roofline, and that was almost certainly the idea.
“Befitting an automobile that Mercedes-Benz wanted people to see Caracciola drive to events all over Europe, it came with room for two passengers.
“It also had a luggage set aft of the seats—perfect for a weekend at Reims or Monza.
“Significantly, the build sheet clearly lists Caracciola as the receiving original owner, via the dealer in Paris.
“Caracciola posed with the car and Alfred Neubauer, manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team, at Bremerhaven prior to embarking to America for the George Vanderbilt Cup.
“Further, the car is known to have been utilised in at least one Mercedes-Benz advertisement in-period. It was, like its driver, a star.
“It is believed that Caracciola used the car until the late 1930s, and that it was then resold through the Paris dealer.
“Reportedly the new owner was Italian foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano.
“Hence the transplant of the original “D” on the rear fender with “I” for Italy, but this is not documented.
“Tom Hanson, son of the 500K’s eventual restorer, recounted that the car had somehow wound up in Ethiopia.
“It was covered in tarpaulins and hidden in a manure pile.”
Motoring whizz Dale Hanson spent 16 months undertaking a complete restoration.
He matched the original maroon finish and leather interior to traces of original materials still in place on the classic car.
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