"Windsor" in the 1947 Ventnor Guide4 Alexandra Gardens: Villa Lavinia
4 Alexandra Gardens is currently split into two units, a three storey maisonette and a basement apartment. Until 2008 it was, with number 5, part of the Windsor Carlton Hotel with connecting doors at ground and basement levels.
When first built number 4 was jointly owned with number 3 and recent renovations in number 3 showed that there was a doorway between the two houses at top floor level - if the doorway was still there anyone using it would enter number 3 through a shower!
For many years number 4 was a boarding house, most notably from 1926 to 1941 when it was the "Windsor", owned by Carrie Farrow who ran it with her aunt, Lavinia Smith. Lavinia was a long time loyal employee of J Lyons and Co and became supervisor of several Lyons Corner tea rooms, using a pony and carriage to visit the shops in her charge. Her niece, Carrie Farrow, a widow with a small son, Charles, also worked for J Lyons as a manageress.
In 1934 (although by this time she had retired) Lavinia was awarded one of the 100 medals that were made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first J Lyons & Co teashop. Lavinia met her husband Henry, who died in 1916, in Windsor in Berkshire, maybe that is the origin of the name?
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The story that has been handed down their family is that when Lavinia retired, J Lyons offered to reward her for her long service and loyalty by buying a house on the Isle of Wight, for her and her niece Carrie Farrow to run as a guesthouse. J Lyons was funded by German Jewish business men, Barnett Salmon (Solomon) and brothers Isidore and Montague Gluckstein.
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The only condition of the guesthouse was that Lavinia and Carrie took in German Jewish students from Germany as well as ordinary holiday makers. It was rumoured that these students then did not go back to Germany, but instead to places such as Switzerland, due to growing unrest in Germany.
4 Alexandra Gardens was the property that was chosen, and was bought by auction in 1926. Click here to see the auction particulars. Lavinia lived in an apartment in Grove Road, while Carrie lived in "Windsor", 4 Alexandra Gardens, Ventnor with her four year old son Charles. Carrie and Lavinia ran the guesthouse together until it was too much for Lavinia. When she became ill with liver cancer she moved into number 4 and Carrie nursed her until she died there on 18th November 1941.
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Over the years many people have reported a presence in the house and as recently as 2004 an image was seen outside the ground floor back room, could this be Lavinia?
We are not sure of the occasion in the photograph on the left, or who most of the people are (if you can help please contact us through the forum) but we do know that the young boy in the middle of the picture is Charles Farrow and the woman to the right with long white dress is Carrie Farrow his mother.
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After Carrie left, the house continued to be run as a boarding house and in the late 1960's was linked with number 5 to become the "Windsor Carlton Hotel".
In December 2007 the doorway and covered walkway between 4 and 5 were blocked up and the buildings were once more separated.
The
Late Victorian, full length mirror which now hangs in the hallway
in number 5, was until this time, hanging in the hallway in number
4. The mirror was hung there shortly after the first time the hallway
was decorated. When the mirror was removed in 2008 the original
Victorian wallpaper could still be seen in pristine condition behind
the mirror.
By January 2008 number 4 was sold. The lease and the freehold of
number 4 were joined in September 2008 by the new owner, who renamed
the house Villa Lavinia.
Dates
Here are some of the key names and dates associated with the house, gleaned from the Deeds, Kelly's Directories and other sources.
| 29th July 1882 | Date used as the base for the 999 year lease, probably issued to Drudge and Wheeler, the builders of the house |
| 1883/84 | Kelly's shows the house was apartments occupied by W. Sheath |
| 1885 | Lease surrendered back to the freeholder Anna Maria May |
| Dec 1885 | New joint lease for 3 and 4 issued to Samuel Wheeler |
| 1886-1904 | Kelly's and the 1891 and 1901 Census shows that the house was lodgings run by Emily Sheath |
| Oct 1908 | Harriett Seabrook bought the lease to 3 and 4 and continued to live in number 3 |
| 1910 | Occupied by Miss Wearham according to Kelly's |
| 1912 | Kelly's list the occupants as C A Webb, Miss Hansen and Capt. Malcolmson |
| 1918-24 | Listed in Kelly's as occupied by Mr and Mrs Meakin |
| 1926-41 | Kelly's say it was a boarding house run by Mrs Farrow |
| 1951 | A Guest House run by Sid Frank Pike according to Kelly's |
| late 1960's | Mr Henry & Mrs Irene Carver, who owned number 5, linked the two houses together to form Windsor Carlton House, a small hotel |
| 1975-79 | George and Sheila Davies owned the Windsor Carlton, they introduced school parties and "Golden Rail" holidays |
| 1979-86 | Owned by Mrs and Mrs May - at this stage the hotel had 19 rooms |
| 1986 - 2003 | Owned by Richard and Caroline Woods |
| 2003 | Bought by Ann and Paul Hutchins which split numbers 4 and 5 into separate buildings again in 2008, remaining in number 5. |
| Jan 2008 | Bought by the present owner. |
If you have further information about this house or have stayed there in the past please contribute to the 4 Alexandra Gardens thread in our discussion forum.
Acknowledgement: We acknowledge and thank Jackie Long and her sisters for their information and pictures from 1926 - 1942 regarding their Great Aunt Lavinia and Grandmother Carrie.